Justice Roberts's concurrence correctly, if somewhat defensively, concluded that precedent can occasionally be overturned, otherwise "segregation would be legal, minimum wage laws would be unconstitutional, and the Government could wiretap ordinary criminal suspects without first obtaining warrants".
In keeping with that precedent, if the offer is accepted, the merged company would operate under the Delta name.
A lawyer for the detainees, Tina Foster, said that if the precedent stood, Mr. Obama and future presidents would have a free hand to "kidnap people from other parts of the world and lock them away for the rest of their lives" without having to prove in court that their suspicions about such prisoners were accurate.
He has concerns that "if precedent is established now, it would enshrine tough penalties as means of deterrence, which may contribute to the problem".
As if to underscore that precedent, the court's spokesman has noted that the case against Ms Yingluck resembles an action undertaken against the late Samak Sundaravej, a one-time celebrity chef who came to serve as the prime minister.
If we set that precedent, investigative journalism will take a body blow.
If China followed that precedent, it could withdraw from the Law of the Sea Treaty altogether -- joining the United States as one of the world's only nations not party to the agreement.
And then if you set a precedent and do this study, then of course people will go to that precedent and say that got approved and we could do this one as well".
But if this precedent - that the president can authorize anything and make it legal "by definition" - is allowed to stand, then our whole form of government is in jeopardy.
If that happens, precedent will matter: What is actually unlimited and what merely earns the moniker?
