Reading ComprehensionDifficulty: Medium

PT110 S4 P3 Q15 Explanation

Critical Legal Studies

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Reading Comprehension question.

TopicsMain PointLaw

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Passage

Philosopher Denise Meyerson views the Critical Legal Studies (CLS) movement as seeking to debunk orthodox legal theory by exposing its contradictions. However, Meyerson argues that CLS proponents tend to see contradictions where none exist, that conflict poses to orthodox legal theory.

According to Meyerson, CLS proponents hold that the existence of conflicting values in the law implies the absence of any uniquely right solution to legal cases. CLS argues that these conflicting values generate equally plausible but opposing answers to any given legal question, and, consequently, that the choice between the conflicting answers if it can be shown that in certain cases the professional obligation overrides ordinary moral obligations.

In addition, says Meyerson, even when the two solutions are equally compelling, it does not follow that the choice between them must be irrational. On the contrary, a solution that is not rationally required need not be unreasonable. Meyerson concurs with another critic that instead of concentrating on the choice between two answer to a problem is not the only answer, opting for it can still be reasonable.

Last, Meyerson takes issue with the CLS charge that legal formalism, the belief that there is a quasi-deductive method capable of giving solutions to problems of legal choice, requires objectivism, the belief that the legal process has moral authority. Meyerson claims that showing the law to be unambiguous does not demonstrate its such considerations may be viewed as part of, not separate from, the rules of the game.

What this question is testing

Main Point

Your task

Capture the passage's overall primary point — the claim everything else supports.

Common trap

Answers that are true but too narrow (a single paragraph) or too broad (beyond the passage's scope).

Winning move

Summarize the whole passage in one sentence first, then match it to a choice.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
15.

Which one of the following best expresses the main idea of

Answer choices

  1. Wrong Emphasis: no Meyerson0% picked this

    The arguments of the Critical Legal Studies movement are under attack not only by legal theorists, but also by thinkers in

    The two main characters in this passage are CLS and Meyerson, so to be missing one of them is a dealbreaker.

  2. Out of Scope: complexity / actual15% picked this

    In critiquing the Critical Legal Studies movement, Meyerson charges that the positions articulated by the movement’s proponents overlook the

    The beginning of this seems fine, but we would want what follows "Meyerson charges that ..." to sound like the big ideas in the first paragraph. Instead, it gives us some statement that was never talked about. The passage never talks about the "complexity of actual legal dilemmas". It's also an unlikely objection to say that CLS fails to appreciate the complexity of the legal field. After all, CLS's main thrust is about "the existence of conflicting values in the law", which suggests layers of complexity.

  3. Wrong Objection6% picked this

    Meyerson objects to the propositions of the Critical Legal Studies movement because she views them

    The beginning of this seems fine, but Meyerson never claimed that the propositions of CLS are self-contradictory. To the contrary, CLS is claiming that propositions / values within the legal system are self-contradictory. Meyerson is saying, "CLS, you're dumb. Conflicting values does not mean that a decision that favors one of the other is a self-contradictory decision. It just means that we ranked one value as more important than the other."

  4. Too Strong: most important7% picked this

    Meyerson poses several objections to the tenets of the Critical Legal Studies movement, but her most important argument involves constructing

    The phrase "most important", in addition to being too strong for us to support, is an opinionated phrase that would indicate the author's evaluation of Meyerson's arguments. But as we know, the author never expressed any opinions or evaluated Meyerson's arguments. He just presented her thinking.

  5. Correct72% picked this

    Meyerson seeks to counter the claims that are made by proponents of the Critical Legal Studies movement in their effort

    Why this is right

    This answer captures that our author was just neutrally presenting a description of Meyerson's work. And it captures that Meyerson's work is a Challenge Position discussion against CLS. This answer best matches the first paragraph. We're told that CLS is trying to debunk/challenge conventional (orthodox) legal theory. And Meyerson tries to debunk CLS's ideas. She ends up defending orthodox legal theory against these complaints lobbied by CLS.

    Skill tested: Main Point · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

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