http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2008/09/great_dissents_1.html The Law, the Universe, and Everything Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:17:18 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.3 hourly 1 http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2008/09/great_dissents_1.html/comment-page-1#comment-47572 Orin Kerr Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:34:36 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2008/09/great-dissents-in-fourth-amendment-cases.html#comment-47572 I think Justice Brandeis's dissent is considered "great" because it was rhetorically powerful, strongly civil libertarian (and therefore, in academic circles, obviously correct), and beautifully written. It also benefited from the fact that parts of it (although not all) later became law. But do the rest of these dissents (of the ones mentioned) count as great? That's a very surprising label, I think. I think Justice Brandeis’s dissent is considered “great” because it was rhetorically powerful, strongly civil libertarian (and therefore, in academic circles, obviously correct), and beautifully written. It also benefited from the fact that parts of it (although not all) later became law. But do the rest of these dissents (of the ones mentioned) count as great? That’s a very surprising label, I think.

]]>