Two Cases, Two Approaches,One Principle

• By Adam Lioz
• Special to Roll Call
• Feb. 28, 2006, Midnight

The late, great legal scholar John Hart Ely conceived of judges as referees. Rather than taking sides in political or cultural disputes, Ely believed that the judicial branch should police the political process to ensure fairness and thwart powerful in-groups’ inevitable efforts to stack the deck against their out-of-power rivals.