h is the way conservatives see the matter. They believe that those espousing the fundamental values approach are legislating from the bench rather than deciding issues based on the law and the Constitution. Wiecek traces this debate through history and indicates how it has always been part and parcel of the judicial process with reference to the Constitution especially. This really begins, as Wiecek notes, in the case of Marbury v. Madison, the case that established that the Supreme Court would conduct judicial review of constitutional issues. The decision itself has been seen as the first case of judicial activism as the Supreme Court took unto itself a task not elucidated clearly in the Constitution. Having done this, the Supreme Court ever after was subject to the question of how the judges were to make decisions regarding constitutionality, and this evolved into the debate over whether the judges had to conform strictly to not just the Constitution but also the original intent of the Framers or whether there were ever higher interests involved and whether the Constitution can be said to evolve with the country rather than remain an unchanging guidepost. Wiecek traces the two strands of this argument through the history of the Supreme court and show how each has prevailed at one time or another, or at least has been perceived as prevailing, since it is not alway
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