The Illusion of Law

Politics Judges will not save our republic. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images Law is power with lipstick. Contra Chief Justice John Roberts, judges are not really umpires calling balls and strikes. The rules and precedents they must interpret are too diffuse and contradictory; choosing which to prioritize or rely upon is a bit like looking out over a crowd and picking your friends. Decisions of the United States Supreme Court are better understood as corroborative. Majority, concurring, and dissenting opinions alike are the product of subjective reasoning, often telling us more about the priorities and predilections of their authors than the objective meaning of the law itself. Take constitutional interpretation. One school of thought, most prominently advanced by Justice Antonin Scalia, is