The Misconceived Quest for the Elusive Right Answer or Dedication to a Process, Not a Result

Abstract This chapter assesses whether the exercise of judicial discretion in answering pivotal legal questions is necessarily illegitimate in a constitutional democracy. It argues that legitimacy does not necessitate existing right answers and a rejection of judicial discretion. This argument rests on two factors: first, the difficulty of determining, in any particular case, whether there is a right answer and what that might be; and second, …