Are you old enough to remember when Kremlin watchers would try to infer the inner workings of the Soviet hierarchy by the order in which those old men stood bundled in their overcoats watching a showy parade in Moscow? No lie, they did it.
Now The Daily Caller runs a column in which someone applies the same sort of bankshot reasoning to the U.S. Supreme Court. Considering a recent decision not to accept an abortion case from Arkansas, the author tries to infer the court’s liberal minority believe Justice Anthony Kennedy is planning to retire before the case could be decided.
Kennedy, the Court’s long-time “swing” jurist, often votes with the liberals on abortion. If he should retire, and be replaced by President Trump with a fifth conservative, the restrictive abortion law would likely be upheld. The liberals would rather kick that can down the road, and agreed not to hear the appeal at this time.
If you scroll down, you see the author admits there are other possible interpretations of the decision not to review. Inferential reasoning has its limits.
