WHAT LAW IS
Another great one from Sullivan >
Beneath this current impasse is a deep difference of opinion about what law actually is. For some liberals, the law is an instrument to bring about a better, more just, and more democratic society. For some conservatives, in contrast, the law is the primary mechanism by which we protect ourselves from each other. Its role is not to do good, but to prevent harm. That's why when it comes to technical matters, like legal deadlines or dimpled chads, liberals are far more likely to say, 'Oh forget about the details. What matters is the end result.' Or as Al Gore's Supreme Court brief puts it, 'Voters have important rights to have their ballots counted, and the magnitude of those rights dwarfs' any legal technicalities that might get in the way. The problem with this, of course, is precedent. If laws and legal deadlines can simply be waived at any time, the settled nature of law is destroyed, and an essential part of its efficacy is undermined. We become not a nation of laws, but of lawyers and judges. This election was so close that it seems to me that any attempt to overturn its result should rest strictly on the letter of the law - not some imaginative Court's reinterpretation of it. SCOTUS now has an opportunity to remind us of that fact. I sure hope they do. (12/10, 7.15PM)
Andrew Sullivan |
