So Justice Marrus grudgingly agreed to do what he had been loath to in his 24 years on the bench in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn: slow down the action.
But what was interesting about Ms. Mars was that in regards to the rich kids she claimed to loath, she in fact used to be one of them.
At a fund-raiser in Wilson, Wyo., he heaped praise on former Vice President Dick Cheney, aligning himself with an unpopular Republican presidency in a way he is loath to do in public.
With American troops only recently withdrawn from Iraq and still in Afghanistan, the president is loath to engage in new military actions, especially one with few advocates, even among human rights groups.
Even in quieter campaigns, high-ranking Democrats have been loath to intervene in primary battles, often out of self-interest should they back the wrong horse.
Whatever Mr. Obama's shortcomings, as president he has been: 1) quite moderate, by the standards of advanced democracies generally and the American policy mainstream in particular; 2) eager to compromise -- and loath to engage in confrontation -- with his political opponents; and 3) devoted to reasonableness.
After 1774, however, the bishop and the church reigned supreme in their own sphere, especially since British governing authorities were loath to interfere in religious matters.
Some Democrats have called for letting the entire package of tax cuts expire at the end of 2012, but doing so would raise taxes on the middle-class family by an average of $3,000 in 2013 alone -- which lawmakers on both sides are loath to do in the midst of a slow economic turnaround.
Federal anti-discrimination law specifically exempts religious groups when they hire a person for religion-related activities, and courts have been loath to interfere in ministerial employment, said David Middlebrook, a lawyer and a specialist in religion law in Dallas and Fort Worth.
That number dropped to just 553 units in 2009, when the presale market shriveled up because buyers were loath to invest in properties they could not see or touch.
