Less Is More: When Courts Decide a Law Means the Opposite of What It Says

Much of appellate courts' regular activities focus on the rather mundane task of construing laws passed by the legislature. Though the courts' approach to this function may vary, on only the rarest of occasions do they decide that a legislative enactment means exactly the opposite of what it says. But attorney Howard J. Bashman says just such an extraordinary event recently arose in two circuit courts, in connection with the Class Action Fairness Act, a cornerstone of the conservative tort reform movement.

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