A VOICE OF CONSCIENCE, BUT A RETROSPECTIVE ONE: Justice Gorsuch on COVID-19 and Emergency Government. “At the very least, one can hope that the Judiciary will not soon again allow itself to be part of the problem by permitting litigants to manipulate our docket to perpetuate a decree designed for one emergency to address another. Make no mistake—decisive executive action is sometimes necessary and appropriate. But if emergency decrees promise to solve some problems, they threaten to generate others. And rule by indefinite emergency edict risks leaving all of us with a shell of a democracy and civil liberties just as hollow.”

A few tarring-and-featherings, if not actual hangings from lampposts, would probably have a more salutary effect on future behavior. And a constitutional doctrine legitimating such remedies would be a useful judicial contribution, and one not out of line with the document’s spirit.