#19 - Concept Reference, Must Be True, Subject Perspective

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (D).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (E):


This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[ngreen221]

Hello PS,

The questions following this passage were tough in general as I felt that they were pretty abstract.

I had this question narrowed down to B and D, but could not make a definite decision due to the fact that "dicta" is not talked about much in the passage. It is given a definition in lines 31-34 and is used to suggest that later "judges have tremendous leeway in being able to redefine the holding and the dicta..." I chose answer B as opposed to D, but I didn't like either of the two because neither expressly mentioned "legal rules expressed in the dicta" or "the dicta to be essential to the original opinion."

I am probably missing something and would love some help figuring that out.

Thank you!

[Brook Miscoski]

ngreen,

Lines 22 through the end are focused on the distinction between dicta and holdings, so the majority of the passage concerns dicta. It is true that the specific word was only used a few times. You will want to focus more on passage structure and viewpoints to avoid classifying an important passage concept as something that was not discussed that much.

The legal realists thought that the distinction between dicta and holding was loose (36) and indeterminate (passage). They thought judges could redefine what was dicta and what was holding in later cases (42-44). This supports that subsequent judges can differ about what is dicta and what is holding (answer D). The realists are not described as believing that judges will question the propriety of previous judges or that they would do so on the basis of dicta.