Q11

[bearknowsthetrooth]

I narrowed this down to B and E and eventually chose E.

The relevant text in the passage states "the critical legal scholars contend that law is an expression of power, but not, as held by the positivists, the power of the legitimate sovereign government. Rather, it is an expression of the power of elites who may have no legitimate authority, but who are intent on preserving the privileges of their race, class, or gender."

I chose E because it states the laws were "devised by lawmakers to ensure the continuation of that governmental system" which to me seemed congruous with "preserving the privileges." B is about income tax deductions for charitable contributions, and I am not sure how that suggests directly preserving privileges for the rich without us having to assume too much (even if they're getting tax breaks, they're still donating money?)

Thanks for the help!

[ohthatpatrick]

Nice job grabbing the excerpt:

The relevant text in the passage states "the critical legal scholars contend that law is an expression of power, but not, as held by the positivists, the power of the legitimate sovereign government. Rather, it is an expression of the power of elites who may have no legitimate authority, but who are intent on preserving the privileges of their race, class, or gender."

Try to paraphrase the distinction between CLS and positivists before checking answer choices. Since LSAT will almost never give us a verbatim paraphrase, it pays to get your brain ready to be flexible with the general theme.

I think you got overly fixated on "preserving the privileges", but both CLS and positivists think that law is designed to preserve power/privilege.

But whose power?

Positivists - the legitimate sovereign government's power
CLS - the power of elites who may have no legitimate authority

I would paraphrase this as "actual politicians" vs. "the rich people who manipulate the politicians".

In sizing up (B) vs. (E), I see that

(B) says "devised by and perpetuated by the rich"

(E) says "continuation of that governmental system"

So (E) refers to positivists, (B) refers to CLS.

I think the 'charitable contributions' part of (B) is totally immaterial to why we're picking it as the credited response. I'm just looking for some buzzword or phrase that locks in with "elites who may have no legitimate authority".

Hope this helps.

[asafezrati]

Could you please tell me if I'm correct in this:

A. Represents Law and Literature
B. CLS
C. Law and Economics
D. Natural Law
E. Legal Positivism

[ohthatpatrick]

B, C, and D seem legit to me.

My buzzwords for Law and Literature were "judicial opinions are really literary works, expressing an ethical code, fit to be judged as artistic performances". I'm not getting any of that in (A).

My buzzwords for Legal Positivism were "advancing the agenda of the ruling authority". Assuming that the governmental system, in (E), refers to the ruling authority, then yeah that one makes sense to me too.