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Judges and Judiciary

May 1, 2023

Looking askance at the law: The jurisprudence of anger

The nature, custom, and practice of opinion writing at the Supreme Court (and all other appellate courts as well) tells us how much trouble we're in. In Dobbs, the other like-minded justices in the majority signed on to not just the opinion's holding but to its tone and attitude as well. Only Chief Justice Roberts would have no part of it and concurred only in the judgment.

As we near the first-year anniversary of Dobbs, we need to look at the decision's true meaning in the context of the bargain we have struck with the Supreme Court. We grant it legitimacy in exchange for a jurisprudence that is responsible both to history and to society. Instead, we got the disgrace that is Dobbs and the beginning of a jurisprudence of anger.

We hardly need to speculate as to what was going on with zealous cul...

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