E-mail:
Jack Balkin: jackbalkin at yahoo.com
Bruce Ackerman bruce.ackerman at yale.edu
Ian Ayres ian.ayres at yale.edu
Corey Brettschneider corey_brettschneider at brown.edu
Mary Dudziak mary.l.dudziak at emory.edu
Joey Fishkin joey.fishkin at gmail.com
Heather Gerken heather.gerken at yale.edu
Abbe Gluck abbe.gluck at yale.edu
Mark Graber mgraber at law.umaryland.edu
Stephen Griffin sgriffin at tulane.edu
Jonathan Hafetz jonathan.hafetz at shu.edu
Jeremy Kessler jkessler at law.columbia.edu
Andrew Koppelman akoppelman at law.northwestern.edu
Marty Lederman msl46 at law.georgetown.edu
Sanford Levinson slevinson at law.utexas.edu
David Luban david.luban at gmail.com
Gerard Magliocca gmaglioc at iupui.edu
Jason Mazzone mazzonej at illinois.edu
Linda McClain lmcclain at bu.edu
John Mikhail mikhail at law.georgetown.edu
Frank Pasquale pasquale.frank at gmail.com
Nate Persily npersily at gmail.com
Michael Stokes Paulsen michaelstokespaulsen at gmail.com
Deborah Pearlstein dpearlst at yu.edu
Rick Pildes rick.pildes at nyu.edu
David Pozen dpozen at law.columbia.edu
Richard Primus raprimus at umich.edu
K. Sabeel Rahmansabeel.rahman at brooklaw.edu
Alice Ristroph alice.ristroph at shu.edu
Neil Siegel siegel at law.duke.edu
David Super david.super at law.georgetown.edu
Brian Tamanaha btamanaha at wulaw.wustl.edu
Nelson Tebbe nelson.tebbe at brooklaw.edu
Mark Tushnet mtushnet at law.harvard.edu
Adam Winkler winkler at ucla.edu
I’m recommending Measuring Judicial Activism, a book just published by Oxford Press by Stefanie Lindquist and Frank Cross. Both authors are well known for their contributions to empirical legal studies. In this excellent (and short) book they take on one of the most hotly debated topics in the field of constitutional studies. They analyze the individual activism of all the justices who served on the Warren, Burger, and Rehnquist Courts along five dimensions: judicial review of federal statutes, state and local laws, executive branch actions, justiciability and overruling Supreme Court precedents. So who are the most activist justices? You’ll have to buy the book to relieve the suspense, but I’ll give you a few examples. With respect to overruling Supreme Court precedent, the most activist justices turn out to be Scalia and Thomas, well in front of presumed activist stalwarts such as Douglas and Warren. Lindquist and Cross also distinguish between institutional activism (willingness to grant access to the federal courts) and ideological activism (a commitment to a particular policy outcome). When they cumulate the scores of judicial activism across all dimensions, the top activist justices turn out to be Douglas, Black, and Warren, with Brennan and Marshall close behind. Justices Burger and Frankfurter rank last. The book is consistently interesting and well worth reading.