Ten theses on dissent

Belleau and Johnson respond to the three articles in the Focus Feature. Agreeing with the general proposition that dissent matters, that it is valuable, and that it strengthens our system of law, they share ten theses on dissent. These theses touch on: dissent as a structural feature of our system; the linking of emotion and reason in the language of dissent; the articulation of tensions between principle and practice across different categories of dissent; the variable emergence of dissent across different legal topics; the need for attention to both heightened dissent and its absence; the impact of judicial identity on dissent; dissent as a (sometimes invisible) process rather than only a product; different currents with respect to dissenting practice at the trial, appellate, and Supreme Court levels; dissent as legal pedagogy; the role of the reader of dissent; and the place of dissent in nourishing the legal imaginary. In brief, they argue that lawyers, law professors, and the public more generally ought to attend to judicial dissent in order to engage with the ways that our system of justice operates, renews itself, and changes.