Judicial Philosophies
Michael Davidson
Letourneau University

Judicial Philosophies

This paper will cover the differences between the judicial philosophies and cite some examples of court cases that have not only changed things then but had an impact on people’s lives today.
There are three main types of judicial philosophies, conservative, liberal and moderate. A conservative philosophy sticks by what the constitution said and the rules of lawmaking and governing are to be found within the constitution. Judges with this kind of thinking will tend to follow more traditional ways of thinking and a value system that is more in line with the rest of us. Although these Judges will also have made decisions based on their own beliefs and in some times their moral values. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-different-types-of-judicial-philosophy.htm
The judicial philosophy of a liberal is in total opposite to what a conservative believes, how surprising that is. A liberal judge believes that the constitution is pretty much an open document and can be interpreted in many ways. Again a liberal judge can interpret laws differently because of his personal beliefs and his personal morals. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-different-types-of-judicial-philosophy.htm
A moderate philosophy is basically middle of the road. They are neither conservative nor liberal. They will take in to account facts in a case and they could see it one way or they could see it the other. In some cases a judge with a moderate view would provide a swing vote if needed it certain cases. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-different-types-of-judicial-philosophy.htm
So the question would be is how do we ever get anything done when we have nobody who possibly agrees with nobody
In 1973 the now famous court case happened Roe v Wade. At the time Roe was a single pregnant woman who was seeking an abortion. At the time Texas abortion laws stated that abortion was only allowed in medical emergencies if it put the mother at risk. Roe challenged this and won and the rest his history. Would the decision have been different if there were more conservatives on the benches of the Supreme Court? I believe it would have been. Even now 41 years later when the issue of abortion comes up the first thing they go to is Roe v Wade. It was such a landmark decision that I believe nobody has challenged yet. www.lawnix.com/cases/roe-wade.html
Another famous case involved Texas again this time the prison system. In 1974 a lawsuit was filed against