It's all very well to say "It should mean what it says.", but this is just begging the question - frequently what it says is imprecise, so the meaning is open t

It's all very well to say "It should mean what it says.", but this is just begging the question - frequently what it says is imprecise, so the meaning is open to interpretation. In the case of the All Writs Act, for example, the Supreme Court found a three-pronged test in New York Telephone. It's precisely because it is a very broad law that it should be construed narrowly - in this case, that it is intended to be able to compel the co-operation of parties with some real involvement in a case, not to authorise open-ended civil conscription in service of the judicial branch.