Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 17:32     Subject: Any other lawyers feel so completely disillusioned about the law?
I remember back in law school (decades ago) the professors would poo poo the critical legal studies scholarship as being too cynical. Turns out those guys weren't nearly cynical enough. Legal Calvinball is apt. While there are still good judges who try to be evenhanded and tether decision-making to actual facts and legal standards, unfortunately the Supremes are mostly radical extremists who don't care two figs about facts, norms, precedent, etc. It all started with Rehnquist - Nixon appointed the guy who was willing to break the law for him.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 10:33     Subject: Any other lawyers feel so completely disillusioned about the law?
Anonymous wrote:Yes, and the politicalization of the DOJ and FBI. On both sides.


The goal is to have a dictatorship. Both sides are working toward this goal.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 10:24     Subject: Any other lawyers feel so completely disillusioned about the law?
Anonymous wrote:It’s all just so disappointing and deflating. Why the hell can’t the Court even give the American people the respect of telling us why and under what authority they are making these decisions?

I want to believe that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice m but it’s hard when we are in the midst of this backlash.


Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 08:21     Subject: Any other lawyers feel so completely disillusioned about the law?
It's not even the big political issues, either. In my specific, generally non political area the Supreme Court with the exact same panel has issued contradictory standards opinions, such that we don't have a standard we can point to. They're not even trying to make it workable.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 07:31     Subject: Any other lawyers feel so completely disillusioned about the law?
Anonymous wrote:Trump has finally made dishonesty honest.

No more liars pretending to be telling the truth.

It's refreshing in its way.



No Trump is a traitor criminal liar con nothing he has ever done is refreshing its unamerican crap
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 07:26     Subject: Re:Any other lawyers feel so completely disillusioned about the law?
Anonymous wrote:These are trying times for people who value the law, objectivity, and logical coherence. As lawyers, a lot of us are deeply invested in those values, and the past decade has been disorienting. There are times lately when it feels like these instincts and intuitions are being flat mocked -- jubilantly and with abandon -- by a party that won an election with 49.8% of the vote.

We are in the process of detonating a system that, while imperfect and often unfair, worked very well at scale for a lot of people for the past 85 years. We have no idea what we are replacing it with; the path forward will be governed by the ejaculations and whims of a personality cult that cares nothing for democracy, the rule of law, or any of the values that movement conservatives lectured the nation about for three generations.

In the Fall of 1999, David Strauss taught my 1L class one hell of an Elements of the Law course. The punchline was that a Hobbesian nightmare awaited us on the other side of a very thin barrier, and if lawyers want to do something useful they should try to shore up the barrier. We failed. It was probably over when McConnell refused to allow the Senate to perform its advice and consent obligation w/r/t Garland. You might pick an earlier or later event, but the bottom line is that it's over.

Disillusionment? It's the only sane response.





Great post
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 07:24     Subject: Any other lawyers feel so completely disillusioned about the law?
Yes, and the politicalization of the DOJ and FBI. On both sides.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 07:00     Subject: Any other lawyers feel so completely disillusioned about the law?
Anonymous wrote:It’s all just so disappointing and deflating. Why the hell can’t the Court even give the American people the respect of telling us why and under what authority they are making these decisions?

I want to believe that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice m but it’s hard when we are in the midst of this backlash.


This captures my feelings too
Anonymous
Post 07/16/2025 09:13     Subject: Any other lawyers feel so completely disillusioned about the law?
I agree OP, that the Supreme Court is acting laughably partisan right now. But these stays are not final opinions. At some point, they're going to actually get around to these issues and issue real opinions with reasoning, instead of just a couple sentences saying "we aren't reaching" blah blah blah.

Then we'll get to read their mistake-filled takes on history and see their hand-wavy logic and we'll be able to distinguish. Instead of right now, where we have nothing.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 23:52     Subject: Any other lawyers feel so completely disillusioned about the law?
I was never team "term limits" for SCOTUS until the last ~3-5 years.

SCOTUS has never been apolitical but it also hasn't been this partisan in my lifetime. Watching them give away all checks and balances is disheartening and terrifying and maddening.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 23:47     Subject: Any other lawyers feel so completely disillusioned about the law?
Anonymous wrote:It’s all just so disappointing and deflating. Why the hell can’t the Court even give the American people the respect of telling us why and under what authority they are making these decisions?

I want to believe that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice m but it’s hard when we are in the midst of this backlash.


Let’s be real: we know why.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 17:39     Subject: Any other lawyers feel so completely disillusioned about the law?
I can't feel too disillusioned because this was all completely expected. It was not hidden at all that the justices that Trump appointed were all incredibly conservative and very activist. If this is what the American people want (and by electing Trump twice, it certainly is), then so be it.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 17:23     Subject: Re:Any other lawyers feel so completely disillusioned about the law?
These are trying times for people who value the law, objectivity, and logical coherence. As lawyers, a lot of us are deeply invested in those values, and the past decade has been disorienting. There are times lately when it feels like these instincts and intuitions are being flat mocked -- jubilantly and with abandon -- by a party that won an election with 49.8% of the vote.

We are in the process of detonating a system that, while imperfect and often unfair, worked very well at scale for a lot of people for the past 85 years. We have no idea what we are replacing it with; the path forward will be governed by the ejaculations and whims of a personality cult that cares nothing for democracy, the rule of law, or any of the values that movement conservatives lectured the nation about for three generations.

In the Fall of 1999, David Strauss taught my 1L class one hell of an Elements of the Law course. The punchline was that a Hobbesian nightmare awaited us on the other side of a very thin barrier, and if lawyers want to do something useful they should try to shore up the barrier. We failed. It was probably over when McConnell refused to allow the Senate to perform its advice and consent obligation w/r/t Garland. You might pick an earlier or later event, but the bottom line is that it's over.

Disillusionment? It's the only sane response.



Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 16:57     Subject: Any other lawyers feel so completely disillusioned about the law?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It’s all just so disappointing and deflating. Why the hell can’t the Court even give the American people the respect of telling us why and under what authority they are making these decisions?

I want to believe that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice m but it’s hard when we are in the midst of this backlash.


The Supreme Court wouldn't need to weigh in on all of these cases if the district courts stopped overreaching. Not all of the recent Supreme Court decisions were 6-3 (one recently was 8-1, and still others were 4-5 and even 3-6), so not all of them were split on conservative/liberal philosophical lines. The problem with lawfare and district court overreach is that the Supreme Court is setting precedent that strengthens the power of the President. This may not be what Democrats wanted as a result.


That's not what anyone wants who wants checks and balances and three branches of govt


Of course it isn't, but the lawsuits forced the issue. Instead of suing, Democrats should have negotiated.


This is really one of the stupidest posts I’ve ever read on this site, and considering eagle snafu that is saying something.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 16:55     Subject: Any other lawyers feel so completely disillusioned about the law?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yes. The courts have always been outcome-driven but they used to have to lay out an argument that, however dumb, could be applied in other cases or distinguished.


True, but even the “old way” was pretty grotesque from a legal perspective. I politically support the outcome of Obergefell, but it was an awful opinion.

Basically, SCOTUS had served as a moderate/progressive legislative body for several decades.

Now it’s acting as a conservative legislative body.



No, nothing about this is conservative. It's radically opposed to the basic "checks and balances" civics we all learned in school.