During the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Sen. Franken tackled an element of conservatives' constitutional discourse that tags progressive judges as engaging in so-called judicial activism. Franken pointed to 
the Supreme Court's conservative wing as evidence that it is a leading force of activism from the bench.
"The current Supreme Court has consistently struck down and questioned longstanding protections for Americans," Franken said during Sotomayor's confirmation hearings. "And I'm talking about individual rights, individual protections, individual liberties. This Supreme Court came close to overturning critical portions of the voting rights act. The Court did this despite the express powers that Congress has granted under the 15th amendment to enact this law." Franken went on to note recent Supreme Court rulings that have made it more difficult for people file lawsuits. "This is judicial activism," Frank said. "This is a Court that is willing to reverse itself to limit the rights of individual Americans. This is a Court that is more than willing to overturn Congress to achieve its own agenda of what is right."
In a press statement on the Sotomayor nomination, Franken continued that the high court's rulings have also had a detrimental impact on "the rights of Americans as employees, as small business owners, and as investors. And they've done this by overturning long-standing precedents."
Franken is the featured speaker at the Convention's Gala Dinner starting at 7 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. The Convention runs June 17 - 19. Visit the ACS Web site here, for the full Convention schedule and to register.
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