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About this quote

What does it mean?
Legal decisions are often driven by emotion first, with rationality used to justify those initial feelings.
In plain terms
Most judicial choices are emotional, with logic added later to explain them.
What can you take from it?
Recognize emotion plays a big role in legal reasoning.

Where it applies

  • court rulings
  • jury decisions
  • personal judgment

Putting it to work

  • scrutinize judicial reasoning
  • check emotional bias

Questions to consider

  • Are your own decisions mostly emotional?
  • How can judges mitigate bias?

Another view

This view might undervalue the role of trained legal analysis.

More from William O. Douglas

  1. When a legislature undertakes to proscribe the exercise of a citizen's constitutional rights it acts lawlessly and the citizen can take matters into his own ha…

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  2. We who have the final word can speak softly or angrily. We can seek to challenge and annoy, as we need not stay docile and quiet.

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  3. We do not sit as a superlegislature to weigh the wisdom of legislation.

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