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It's a wonky issue but one close to many conservatives' hearts: judicial activism.

Sen. Rand Paul, R- Kentucky, is breaking with many in his party by challenging conservatives who call judicial restraint a sacrosanct conservative mantra. At a conservative conference on Tuesday, the potential GOP presidential candidate said that activism - sometimes - isn't a dirty word.

"It's is not as simple as we make it sound," Paul said of the issue at a conservative conference hosted by Heritage Action Tuesday.

Paul -- who has also made a point of prodding traditional GOP maxims about criminal justice and foreign policy - pointed to the Supreme Court's recent decision on the Affordable Care Act as an instance of restraint gone wrong.

"My point is not to convert you from judicial restraint to judicial activism but to think about it" the potential 2016 presidential candidate added. "I don't want judges writing laws either, but do I want judges to protect my freedom? Do I want judges to take an activist role to preserve liberty?"

At the same conference one day earlier, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Paul's Senate colleague and potential 2016 challenger, insisted that Republicans must insist on restrained judges.

"I'm looking forward to seeing finally some real scrutiny to prevent judicial activists from being put on the bench who will impose their own radical agenda, including sadly the judicial activism we have seen in recent months with courts effectively striking down the marriage laws in 36 states," Cruz told the small auditorium of conservative activists.

While the issue seems mundane and boring, it could come to a head during the next president's term - if not in the next two years - as the Supreme Court is likely to have an opening.

While judicial restraint is a philosophy first adopted by liberals in the early 1900s, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have used the term to their advantage.

In recent years, conservatives have been more aggressive on pushing judges who follow a strict and literal interpretation of the Constitution as opposed to "activist" judges who they say favor personal beliefs over the law. The idea was championed by the late Robert Bork, a conservative judge who failed to be confirmed by the Senate for the Supreme Court in the 1980s.

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Rand Paul Challenges Conservatives, Cruz