Study Notes
Judicial Restraint
- Level:
- A-Level
- Board:
- AQA, Edexcel, OCR, IB
Last updated 22 Mar 2021
Judicial Restraint is the belief that justices should not seek to ‘legislate’ from the bench, this should be left to the legislature and executive. To this end greater stress should be placed upon the rulings of lower courts. Typically restrained courts will have a smaller docket.
The Rehnquist Court is often defined as a restrained court. For example in Planned Parenthood v Casey, the court upheld the right to an abortion, continuing the decision of the Warren Court.
Generally speaking courts that are defined as restrained, tend to have a majority of conservative justices, who would favour the restrained approach to judicial rulings. Contrasting to this is Judicial Activism which is a label that would typically be applied to more liberal courts.
You might also like
Vice President (election, role)
Study Notes
The Senate
Study Notes
Congressional Committees
Study Notes
Congress
Study Notes
The House of Representatives
Study Notes

A Virtual Visit to the White House
11th September 2015
Representatives (Role and Election)
Study Notes
Midterm Elections
Study Notes