Commentary It’s time for us as conservatives to rethink our judicial philosophy. For nearly 40 years, going back to the Robert Bork nomination in the 1980s, conservatives and Republicans have affirmed a philosophy of judicial restraint, in opposition to the liberal or progressive philosophy of judicial activism. But the latest Supreme Court decision in Fulton v. Philadelphia (pdf) should prompt us to a fundamental reevaluation of both the philosophical and practical basis on which we nominate judges. It might seem odd for me to be calling for such a rethinking in the wake of a decision that went 9-0 in the conservatives’ favor. The Fulton decision was, on the face of it, a victory for religious freedom. A united Supreme Court held that the city of Philadelphia could not deny contracts to a religious group, Catholic Social Services, on the basis of its religiously held conviction that foster children should …