It’s hard to imagine a tougher place to pitch the doctrine of judicial activism than a Conservative Policy Summit sponsored by Heritage Action for America, but that’s exactly what Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., did on Tuesday.

When a deafening silence greeted his opening question about how many support judicial activism, Paul admitted, “This is really gonna be a tough sell,” and launched bravely into his contrarian pitch, the National Journal reported.

Paul, speaking to an audience which has always preferred judicial restraint over judges making new law, asked, “If you’re for judicial restraint, I guess, then what happens when a legislature does bad things?” the Christian Post reported.

“What happens when a legislature says, ‘Well, we’re going to pass Jim Crow laws.’ Should we have an activist court that comes in and overturns that?

“We simply don’t want judges writing laws. I don’t want judges writing laws either; but do I want judges to protect my freedom? Do I want judges to take an activist role in defense of liberty?”

Paul, a libertarian, said he was concerned about the “tyranny of state government” and added, “My point is not to convert you from judicial restraint to judicial activism, but to think about it because I think it’s not as simple as we make it sound,” the Washington Times reported. Full Story.

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