History
Judicial Restraint Versus Judicial Activism in Modern Courts
Quick fact
One of the most famous examples of judicial activism is Brown v. Board of Education (1954), where the Supreme Court struck down school segregation. Yet critics of the modern Court often point to Dobbs v. Jackson (2022) as activism from the other side—overturning a half-century-old precedent on abortion. This shows that the label 'activist' often depends on whether the result is progress or backlash.
Why this is interesting
When a judge overturns a law passed by a democratically elected legislature, do they become an unelected policymaker, or are they the last guardian of the Constitution? That fault line separates judicial restraint from judicial activism.