Judges sometimes disagree about the best way to resolve a case. But the conventional wisdom is that they should not be too swayed by such disagreement and should do their best to decide the case by their own lights. An emerging critique questions this view, arguing instead for widespread humility. In the face of disagreement, the argument goes, judges should generally concede ambiguity and uncertainty in almost all contested cases.
Both positions are wrong. Drawing on the philosophical concepts of "peer disagreement" and "epistemic peerhood," we argue for a different approach: A judge ought to give significant weight to the views of others, but only when those others share the judge's basic methodology or interpretive outlook—i.e., only when those others are methodological "friends." Thus textualists should hesitate before disagreeing with other textualists, and pragmatists should hesitate before disagreeing with like-minded pragmatists. Disagreement between the two camps is, by contrast, "old news" and so provides neither camp additional reason for pause.
William Baude & Ryan D. Doerfler, Arguing with Friends, 117 Mich. L. Rev. 319 (2018).