Activist Conservative Supreme Court? New Study say YES!

Who are the real activists on the U.S. Supreme Court? Do Republican appointees differ from Democratic appointees? How much? Are federal judges political? According to the Washington Independent:

A. Activism and on the Supreme Court Justice Rate of upholding agency decisions(%)

(Least activist) Breyer 82, Souter 77, Ginsburg 74, Stevens 71, O'Connor 68, Kennedy 67, Rehnquist 64, Thomas 54 Scalia 52 (Most activis)

B. Justice Clarence Thomas wins the Partisanship Award. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wins the Neutrality Award. Partisan Voting Gap between liberal and conservative decisions ( %)

(Most partisan) Clarence Thomas 46 Conservative, John Paul Stevens 40 Liberal, Antonin Scalia 27 Conservative, Stephen Breyer 26 Liberal, Ruth Bader Ginsburg 23 Liberal, William Rehnquist 21 Conservative, Sandra Day O'Connor 14 Conservative, David Souter 14 Liberal, Anthony Kennedy 1

First, widespread conservative complaints about “liberal judicial activism” should be taken with many grains of salt. If we ask how often the justices vote to strike down agency decisions, Scalia and Thomas, the most conservative members of the Supreme Court, show the most activist voting patterns. By contrast, the justices commonly described as “liberal” are the least activist.

Second, partisan voting is a serious problem in the federal judiciary. No one should approve of a situation in which the fate of an environmental regulation depends on whether a lower court panel consists of one, two or three Republican appointees.

Third and perhaps most important, federal agencies in an Obama or McCain administration are likely to make a number of decisions that are more liberal than those of the Bush administration. Many decisions will ultimately be challenged in federal court -- and the Republican-appointed judges who dominate the federal bench could well prove to be a big obstacle.