Mr. Wertheimer said that even a seemingly modest decision in the new case, one directed only at overall limits, could have radical consequences.
By contrast, Mr. Obama's modest decision last year, ably executed by Ms. Napolitano, to defer the deportations of thousands of young immigrants with clean records stands out as a model of sound policy and political courage.
"Even though I'm able to see a wider range of color with these lenses, it's not like I'm making rainbows," says Arsham, suggesting that his use of blue and purple on jackets and sports equipment at Galerie Perrotin's "Circa 2345" last fall was ultimately a modest decision.
Though the immediate impact is likely to be modest, the decision is a turnabout from only a few months ago, when officials were discussing when and how to begin to raise interest rates and gradually shrink the $2.3 trillion balance sheet amassed through the Fed's response to the 2008 financial crisis.
This has inevitably translated into modest positions, timid decisions and compromised policies.
Because of the considerable toxicity and the modest survival benefits, decisions about treatment can be extremely difficult.
Sheer complexity makes the impact of even the grandest of health policy decisions modest, unpredictable, and non-linear.
While it is always dangerous to try to identify patterns in the cases the court accepts, which are after all a subset of the cases that happen to reach it, the docket so far is consistent with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.'s stated preference for modest and incremental decision making.
The Russian magnate's initial outlay was modest, yet his decision to replace the manager Marco Simone with Ranieri last summer hinted at his ambition.
Justice Ginsburg argued that the Court in Roe v. Wade should have been more modest in its decision.
