LSAT 153 | Section 4 | Reading Comprehension: Q15

RC Question 15 Explanation

DISCUSSION: Both authors say that dishonesty might give courts a bad reputation. Passage A mentions it at the end of the second paragraph: honesty strengthens the institutional legitimacy of the courts.

Passage B mentions it in paragraphs 2 and 3. Dishonesty might make the public cynical (line 50, end of para 2), and a cost benefit calculus might show that dishonesty would lead to overly large institutional losses (lines 56-57, para 3).

For a question like this, it’s important to track where each author discusses practical effects. Author A does it in paragraph 2 only. Author B does it in paragraph 2, and the mid to end of paragraph 3. Knowing these locations lets you quickly skim them to confirm an answer.

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1. This answer doesn’t make any sense: it says public compliance with controversial judgements. Compliance doesn’t mean what the public thinks of a judgement. It means whether people obey. Lots of people obey laws they don’t agree with.
    
   As for compliance with judgements: generally, judgements in criminal and civil cases affect one defendant. And the judgement is enforced by the police, at gunpoint. Judges have little to worry about compliance in most cases. In any case compliance wasn’t a concept either author talked about: instead the authors talked about public opinion.
2. CORRECT. End of paragraph 2 in passage A (line 20) and middle of paragraph 3 for B (line 56) discuss this.
3. Passage A didn’t mention debate and criticism of judicial rulings. Only passage B did. Paragraph 2 said that less candor could weaken constraints on judges (such as public criticism). But A didn’t mention any of this.
4. Only passage A mentioned guidance to lower courts. (paragraph 2, lines 18-19)
5. Only passage B mentioned this, in the middle of paragraph 2. It was an offhand reference, and A didn’t mention it.