Undue Restraint

Why judicial activism has its place

THE never-ending saga of Bush v. Gore has now spilled over twice into the U.S. Supreme Court. At times, the arguments in that lofty tribunal have sounded technical, almost arid, as lawyers from both sides disputed whether the Florida supreme court usurped the legislative power with its (to be charitable) imaginative takeover of the entire recount process, whether an equal-protection clause allowed different counties to use different standards in reading chads, or, more crucially, whether the new standard of counting dimples passed constitutional muster.

About the Author

Richard A. Epstein

Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, the Peter and Kirstin Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law Emeritus and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago. His many books include The Dubious Morality of Modern Administrative Law.

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Why judicial activism has its place

THE never-ending saga of Bush v. Gore has now spilled over twice into the U.S. Supreme Court. At times, the arguments in that lofty tribunal have sounded technical, almost arid, as lawyers from both sides disputed whether the Florida supreme court usurped the legislative power with its (to be charitable) imaginative takeover of the entire recount process, whether an equal-protection clause allowed different counties to use different standards in reading chads, or, more crucially, whether the new standard of counting dimples passed constitutional muster.

About the Author

Richard A. Epstein

Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, the Peter and Kirstin Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law Emeritus and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago. His many books include The Dubious Morality of Modern Administrative Law.