Daniel Raff was appointed to the ASUCD Court in the Spring of 2004 and served as the Vice Chief Justice for some time. He has since retired from the Court.
As a justice, Daniel at times butted heads with Chief Justice Fricke due to competing legal philosophies. Daniel recognizes that the court is there to arbitrate disagreements within ASUCD, not create them. Furthermore, Daniel can best be described as a judicial positivist when discussing ASUCD matters, while Dan would describe Kris as more accurately described as a judicial activist. Judicial positivism is the belief that only what is written and duly passed as law has any basis for judicial consideration — that the concept of unwritten laws is "nonsense on stilts" (as the jurist Anthony Bentham once stated).
In particular, Raff has argued that ASUCD bylaws may retroactively effect people, as ex post facto acts of the senate are not prohibited by ASUCD Constitution. Kris likes to compare Daniel to the current US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who is a hard positivist; however, comparing him to Scalia is unfair, as Daniel points out, because the ASUCD Court is quite different from it's counterpart in the federal government (despite what Kris likes to think). In fact, Kris is the activist when it comes to issues dealt with by the U.S. Supreme Court. For example, Kris has attacked* a woman's right to choose because the right to privacy does not explicitly appear anywhere in the U.S. Constitution. Daniel however, feels that the right to privacy is an inalienable and is implied by the 3rd, 4th, and 14th Amendments, as well as several clauses found within the main body of the U.S. Constitution.
Raff is also a member of the Delta Chi Fraternity with Senator Thomas Lloyd
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*OMGWTF when did I "attack women's right to choose"?!? And if I did believe as you are saying, I think that would make me a hard positivist not an activist. When have I done anything indicative of judicial activism?! -KrisFricke
I don't think I've ever seen a Wiki page that was so devoted to someone other than the individual the page was named for. Very interesting. -ss
Perhaps a little explanation is in order. Kris originally made this page without telling me to vent about me not agreeing with him on something... so i changed it a little. I would welcome someone who actually knows me to post a non-ASUCD description of me. -Dan
I know Dan... and I can't think of a better way to describe him than Leinad Enahs F-Far. -Meghan
Wait, that example of a women's right to choose shows the exact opposite of judicial passivisim! It doesn't make any sense!- TimCoady
