Another Quote for Today

But on questions of institutional competence, who “ought” to decide necessarily depends on an “is”—on the actual strengths and weaknesses of existing institutions. That is the whole point of debates about institutional competence. Arguing that Congress ought to do things beyond its capacities is like arguing that earthworms ought to fly, even if none of them have done so lately.

-- Prof. Douglass Laycock, responding to an argument made by Prof. Marci Hamilton, who was responding to a "scathing" review by Mr. Laycock of a book she recently authored. For all of the relevant links, see Stuart Buck here.