Meek v. Pittenger

I

Introduction

Seven decades ago, Mr. Justice Holmes reminded us that:

“Great cases, like hard cases, make bad law. For great cases are called *663great, not by reason of their real importance in shaping the law of the future, but because of some accident of immediate overwhelming interest which appeals to the feelings and distorts the judgment. These immediate interests exercise a kind of hydraulic pressure which makes what previously was clear seem doubtful, and before which even well settled principles of law will bend.” [Dissenting Opinion in Northern Securities Company v. United States, 193…