Richard Posner from the 7th circuit said something like this: (a) decide which way one wants to rule (b) find the relevant reasoning to effect (a). What we are

Richard Posner from the 7th circuit said something like this: (a) decide which way one wants to rule (b) find the relevant reasoning to effect (a). What we are told is the other way around, a fiction: Reasoning drives the decisions. Sure, judges can't decide arbitrarily. They have a range of reasonings, a set of outcomes, along with prevailing political/intellectual/economic winds. Just pick an appropriate combination.