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30 Conn. L. Rev. 1365 (1997-1998)
It's Simple: Judges Don't Like Labor Unions

handle is hein.journals/conlr30 and id is 1375 raw text is: It's Simple: Judges Don't Like Labor Unions GEORGE SCHATZKI In his wonderful but dolorous Birdsong,' Jack Getman concludes that the willful ignorance of decisionmakers has produced a body of labor law painfully inconsistent with his sense of the facts, reason, and justice. Explicit in his requiem is that the judges do not want to know more or to understand better. Implicit in his sad music is the belief that, if the judges (despite their desire not to know) did know more and better, those august decisionmakers would reach more acceptable results. It is this implication with which I pretty much disagree. While the judges' ignorance may make it easier for them to do what they do, it is not ignorance, I believe, that accounts primarily for their consistently unfriendly-to-the-labor-movement holdings. While appreciating that causation for judges' actions is multiple and complicated, I believe there is a heavy thumb on the scales. It's simple: judges don't like labor unions. In the nonworld of neutral principles or of God-like judges, it may be true that reason prevails. I am reminded of a conversation I had many years ago with a colleague who, like me, had learned at the feet of Henry Hart. We were discussing the enormous influence Hart had had upon both of us. I remember marveling at the strength of Hart's faith in reason as a foundation for understanding and explaining law. My colleague said, If reason doesn't explain it, what does? I had no answer to what seemed to be largely a rhetorical question. I deeply believed in reason as the explanatory force for the law. Jack Getman's article makes clear that, once upon a time, he too held that view. And, to the extent he believes today that judges, if only they knew more, would significantly change what they do, he still does believe in the ultimate and determinative power of reason upon the judges. On the other hand, I am highly doubtful. It is true that judges * Professor of Lin, University of ConnectlcuL 1. Julius Getman, Of Labor Law and Birdsong, 30 COm. L REv. 1345 (1998).

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