@galaxyLogic: Yes but judges are people, and their decisions are based on what they believe the rules they're enforcing mean, and they are interpreting those r

@galaxyLogic: Yes but judges are people, and their decisions are based on what they believe the rules they're enforcing mean, and they are interpreting those rules based on parsing the meaning according to their theory of how you comprehend text which, for most people, comes down to "am I understanding this sentence as the person who wrote it meant it?" So if we want to predict, understand, or shape their decisions we are perforce interested in both what they currently think those rules mean and what and how we might persuade them differently. There is no cosmic law that will determine whether our idea of what is right will prevail -- we are a nation of humans and not cosmic laws. Imagine you are a successful actor who is convinced that he does not need to pay income tax because he has read the constitution and according to his reading he does not need to pay income tax. Even if he is "correct" for some value of correct, it does him no good when the IRS shows up at the door.