Mark Twain once stated “it is the difference of opinion that makes horse races.” Professor Norman Tebbe has published a new book that focuses on one of the most divisive contemporary clashes of constitutional opinion: egalitarian laws protecting LGBT citizens and women’s reproductive freedom versus religious traditionalists asserting rights to accommodation and dissent. It is a useful book that should serve as a valuable resource to lawyers, politicians, and judges who, faced with intractable battles between competing values, seek principled ways to achieve acceptable constitutional results.
The author’s main proposition is that the “method of social coherence” should be employed to resolve these disputes. Inspired by the philosopher, John Rawls, the method advocates a search for “reflective equilibrium,” making “it possible to manage areas of law that involve multiple values.”
