Can we assume that, given the supposed dominance of realist theory in legal academia for about 3/4 of a century, new generations of judges are now employing functionalist methods to decide cases more and more often? If a law student has been schooled in an atmosphere stressing the absurdity of the circular reasoning of the past, won't she be more inclined to make functionally driven decisions on the bench? I assume that's what is happening, but the transcendental nonsense doesn't seem to have gone away as an explanatory mechanism.

-- WalkerNewell - 28 Jan 2009