Wednesday, December 24, 2014

"Scalia culpa" & Quotation support for changing positions



ABA Journal has Scalia demonstrates how to recover from an apparent misstep with a 'Scalia culpa,' says reporter, which includes some classic quotes for changing one's mind:

• Justice Jackson: "I see no reason why I should be consciously wrong today because I was unconsciously wrong yesterday."
• Justice Joseph Story in an 1827 opinion: “My own error … can furnish no ground for its being adopted by this court.”
• Justice Felix Frankfurter in a 1949 dissent: “Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late.”

[Along these lines, GMSR's David Hackett points to the famous quote from Baron Bramwell, when confronted with the argument that he follow dicta from one of his earlier decisions: "The matter does not appear to me now as it appears to have appeared to me then."]



See also: Lawyer is reprimanded for lying about appeal; client repeated assertion in TV interview