Hatch's rhetoric, combined with remarkable Republican unity opposing the stimulus is obviously (even to Blitzer) a smart gamble by the GOP to abdicate their duty to lead the nation out of crisis, and place responsibility for reviving the economy squarely on Obama's shoulders.
"The agency chose to abdicate its duty," he said of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Certainly in the merger context, a director may not abdicate that duty by leaving to the shareholders alone the decision to approve or disapprove the agreement.
What is most frightening, however, is that both private and public media have chosen to abdicate their duty to question the state's narrative and hold officials to account.
The danger with the last two roles is that people assume the CDO is taking care of the digital strategy and abdicate their duty to help determine the right path forward.
To the extent that judges applying the modern rational-basis test assist government officials in imposing their will by conceiving of justifications for their actions have no evidentiary support, they abdicate their duty of independent judgment.
It counsels judges to abdicate their duty to expound the theory-laden law of the land; it holds the law hostage to judges' beliefs about what is uncontroversial and what is sensible.
Thus, Justice Thomas has argued that Auer deference requires judges to violate Article III because it requires them to abdicate their duty of independent judgment and defer to the political branches' will.
Yet the most rigorously objective methodology for ascertaining the meaning of the law is not sufficient to equip judges to discharge their duty--and numerous doctrines that cover wide, consequential areas of American law and life require them to abdicate that duty.
Players need to demonstrate leadership, step into the firing line immediately to take up those less-than-familiar duties, not step away and abdicate responsibility.
Last Monday, the Supreme Court abdicated that duty.
