One of the most important lessons I learned in law school happened in “Contracts.” But it didn’t just apply to contracts.
It was still early in my legal education, and one of my fellow students raised his hand. In frustration, he asked the question that was on all our minds:
“When are you going to tell us what the law is?!”
Professor Jay Mootz started laughing. “If you wanted black and white, you’ve come to the wrong place.”
That’s the moment I understood that the law is (mostly) about shades of gray. This is frustrating to many people. Humans naturally crave certainty. We dislike ambiguity. It was an especially hard lesson for me to internalize because I believe, as Ben Franklin did, “A place for everything, everything in its place.” I prefer order.
Of course, throughout the rest of my legal education I learned to “think like a lawyer.” (Which many people believe is the source of much absurdity. They’re not wrong: https://lnkd.in/gVRkNT5W.)
I had a recent occasion to tell that story to my students. This was the last week of classes of the semester at William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada-Las Vegas. (Here’s a post from my first class of the semester: https://lnkd.in/gTVNreSU.) Now they are on to finals.
As we conducted a final review of the course material, we talked about the uncertainty that persists in many areas involving “Firearms Law and the Second Amendment.” I told them of Professor Mootz’s sage words.
Of course, my students aren’t the only ones that crave answers about gun law. Yesterday, the Solicitor General submitted an amicus brief to SCOTUS, in a case about whether the government can exercise ‘one of the sticks in the bundle’ (https://lnkd.in/gZBeimvK) on behalf of others and criminalize carrying concealed firearms on private property without the express permission of the owner.
I previously wrote about this case, on Constitution Day, no less: https://lnkd.in/gQgMq9qW.
Fingers crossed that we get a few more Second Amendment decisions soon (even though it would mean I’ll have to revise my syllabus!) In the meantime, I remain jealous of the people who still believe “the law is the law.”
Yes, it is. In all its shades of gray.
You can read the SG‘s brief here: https://lnkd.in/gufAH9Rz.