Playing Favorites
Definition: Judges elevate personal sympathy for a litigant above the requirements of law.
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Contorting Text
Definition: Judges strain the plain text to achieve their apparent desired ends, bending terms to the point of breaking.
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Playing Legislator
Definition: Judges weigh policy considerations above the requirements of law.
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Living Constitutionalism
Definition: Judges rely on the so-called Living Constitution to make the Constitution comport with their self-described enlightened sensibilities.
"Evolving Standards of Decency": Rather than interpreting the Eighth Amendment according to its original meaning, judges assert erroneous assessments of popular opinion in order to supplant the amendment with their own preferred meaning.
Substantive Due Process: Judges read broad constitutional terms divorced from any textual or originalist moorings, thereby making them empty vessels into which they can pour any policy preferences they desire.
Making Up Rights: Judges create a "right" not found anywhere in the text of the Constitution or our nation’s laws and traditions, thus abandoning their duty to interpret the Constitution and instead endeavoring to amend it.
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Abusing Precedent
Definition: Judges expand on or invent erroneous precedents to give legal status to their preferred outcomes.
Reinforcing Grave Errors: Judges reinforce and expand on a prior error of the Court.
Precedential Revisionism: Judges mishandle or misread a Court’s precedent to arrive at a desired result.
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Judicial Imperialism
Definition: Judges expand the power of the judiciary beyond its constitutional limits.
Judicial Hubris: Judges engage in judicial hubris, making claims of judicial supremacy/judicial exclusivity.
Self-aggrandizement: Judges arrogate power from the other branches to decide issues that do not fall within the purview of the judicial power.
Independent Judgment Masquerading as Law: Judges cite their own “independent judgment” as authoritative when there is no justification thereof, wresting power from the elected branches.
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Importing Foreign Law
Definition: Unable to justify their conclusion with U.S. law, judges turn to international law to justify their preferred outcome.
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Nullifying Rights
Definition: Judges abolish the protection of established rights to which they are personally opposed.
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Judicial Dishonesty
Definition: Judges mischaracterize the facts or emphasize selective facts to support a desired result.
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