High Court and Low Politics: Part III

"While there is a tendency to label judges 'liberal' or 'conservative' -- and the labels may fit, even if somewhat loosely -- the real puzzle are judges who start out one way and move the other way over time.

In the population at large, and even among the intelligentsia, the usual movement over the years has been from left to right. The phrase 'radical at twenty and conservative at forty' has been true enough, often enough, to become a cliche.

Most of the leading conservative intellectuals were at least liberal, and often radical, in their youth. That includes Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek and the whole neo-conservative movement. In politics, the leading conservative figure of the 20th century -- Ronald Reagan -- was a liberal in his early years.

On the Supreme Court of the United States, however, the movement has been in the opposite direction." Read on.