Tim Wu has been doing a fantastic job of filling in at Lawrence Lessig’s blog. One of the best entries he’s written, titled “Reasons,” was published on August 3rd and discusses the importance of grounding law in just that - reason.

Years ago, when I was a law clerk, I was impressed by how much Judge Posner could accomplish with one simple question. He would ask, “What exactly is the purpose of this law (or proposed rule)?” It was astonishing how often lawyers would stare or gasp, unable to answer this most basic of questions.

I think the least you can ask of government, whatever branch, is that it always have an answer to Posner’s question. When acting on behalf of the public, it ought always have a clear reason for what it is doing, that it can articulate without shame, sloganeering, or reliance on non-existent evidence. Is that too much too ask?

Wu cites copyright as a specific manifestation of this inability to justify legal prescriptions and makes the familiar argument about the silliness of the years-old-evidence-terror-alert issued that day. He concludes with a concise-but-brilliant summary of what many writers have tried to convey:

I don’t think Government by reason is too much to ask for. But it certainly isn’t what we’re getting.

Be sure to tune in this coming week to Lessig’s blog for guest writer Richard Posner, the former-Judge and current Lecturer at the University of Chicago’s Law School whom Wu quotes above. It should be very interesting, and it is a rare opportunity to read the blog-style thoughts of one of America’s most respected legal thinkers.