Sunstein on 5-4, and Posner's Mother

In the New York Times today, Cass Sunstein writes about 5-to-4 decisions from the Supreme Court, arguing that such splits will persist even if the political composition of the Court shifts after President Bush's two appointments. Over at PrawfsBlawg, Ethan Leib expresses skepticism, citing data from an academic paper by Jed Shugerman. 

In a nearby post, meanwhile, Dan Markel highlights the continuing and surprisingly lively debate between Geof Stone and Dick Posner, a debate which this morning has strangely led to a "well, your mother wears Army boots" type exchange between two normally mild-mannered colleagues. No kidding.

Comments

[anon]

My favorite quote is Stone's, "The problem is that by inflating the gravity of the danger one can "justify" almost anything."

As much as I disagree with Stone's reasons, his reasoning is superb. Anyone who read Posner's screed on global warming at the B-P Blog is sure to recognize that his attempts at balancing go out the window when there is a .1% chance of catastrophe.

[Tobias]

It was a pleasure reading this discussion between these great thinkers. It reminds me of the great time, I had at the University of Chicago Law School. Stone´s historical reasoning persuades me though I love Posners briliant questioning.