If sexual intercourse, as the poets tell us, began in 1963, it was another decade and a half before the American political system began to take notice.

Of course, conservatives always claim to be against judicial activism.

Is there any other democracy where the voters are as spoiled as they are in the United States? Especially, of course, in certain states, such as Iowa and New Hampshire, where the old joke is literally true about the citizens who say they haven't yet formed an opinion about a candidate because they've only met the fellow a few times.

It wouldn't be fair to say that conservatives cherish property the way liberals cherish equality. But it would be fair to say that the takings clause is the conservatives recipe for judicial activism just as they say liberals have misused the equal protection clause.

The takings clause of the Fifth Amendment is for conservatives what the equal protection clause of the 14th is for liberals.

In any event, the proper question isn't what a journalist thinks is relevant but what his or her audience thinks is relevant. Denying people information they would find useful because you think they shouldn't find it useful is censorship, not journalism.

So the danger of conservative judicial activism has been averted for another year. Stay tuned.