But Samuel Bray, a law professor at the University of Chicago, said courts are so powerful they must observe certain restraints. They cannot decide disputes not brought to them, for instance, and they can decide only cases in which the plaintiffs have a real stake.

“Courts have the special power of giving judgments that are obeyed, even in the bitterest disputes,” he said. “But the special powers and special constraints of courts go together. And in the long run, the legitimacy of a judicial system depends on the judges’ commitment to working in a judicial mode, come what may.”

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