The knotty problems of legal and constitutional precedence aired on the site

today are way above my pay grade, so I’m not going to address them directly.

There is a thing I’d like to say, though.

A couple of times, visiting places around the country, I’ve had the

opportunity to address a roomful of judges — including, sometimes, the

highest legal officers of a state. Every time I have mingled with these

people I have come away in awe of their dedication to the law. The most

recent such event was in Alabama last year, at the time of the Roy Moore

controversy. I wrote up my impressions here.

I suppose you could say that this intense dedication to statute, precedent,

and process has its downside. It doesn’t make for very imaginative

thinking; and these folk may come to think that they are an Elect blessed

with superior wisdom. And certainly the law is sometimes, as the beadle

says in Oliver Twist, “a ass” — think of that dreadful Amirault case in

Massachusetts. On the whole, though, when I think of judges like those I

had the privilege to meet in Alabama, I’m very glad they are there, and have

the rigid principles they have, and that I don’t live in a country where the

law is just a racket run for the benefit of the powerful, as is the case in

much of the world.