The Rule That Won’t Stay Put

Harlan Quill says judicial estoppel is the sort of rule built by people who are tired of hearing the same witness change coats in the hallway. It exists to stop legal flip-flops, not to audition for a campaign slogan, yet here it is being offered up like the nation must decide whether to keep the screws tight or loosen them for comfort.

The comedy is in the packaging. A doctrine with a simple job gets recast as a civic question, with “reexamine” doing the usual work of making a demolition look like housekeeping. That is how institutions talk when they want to sound democratic while quietly shopping for a softer lock.