The Anti-Trump Recoil Goes Too Far
The overheated reaction to comments by Jeff Sessions dramatizes the need for a backlash that restores moderation—not one that swings the pendulum to the opposite extreme.
In the winter of 1858, Abraham Lincoln answered an admirer seeking advice on the study of law. Where should a beginner start? Lincoln replied by citing a basic library of works by four authors. Two were American; two were English. Lincoln did not assert an “Anglo-American legal tradition.” He took it for granted, as has every American lawyer and judge before and since.
Such basic concepts as “torts”The “cruel and unusual punishments” clause of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is reproduced verbatim from England’s 1689 Bill of Rights.
