I published this piece–In Praise of Judicial Activism–in the Richmond Times here.  It  received limited feedback.  But, it also represents a great change in my opinion.  Earlier in my career, I believed that courts should defer to the elected branches and let them take their  time to deliberate.  Alas, the vision of democracy that underpins that  vision is  somewhat quixotic.  Democracy is quite bogged down by lilliputian interests as Jonathan Rauch and Mancur Olsen have demonstrated. If we wait for vested or entrenched interests to deliberate, minorities may suffer.  Besides, if courts really outrage the majority, it still has the power to pass laws in response  to court decisions.