And that followed a presidential campaign in which the Democratic candidates, including the eventual nominee and future president, coalesced quickly around a model for reform and spent their time litigating their relatively narrow disputes in detail. .
One side sees a great constitutional clash over the rule of law in a democracy, while the other sees a narrow regulatory dispute.
And that is also why its ongoing contractual row with the British Olympic Association – soon to be adjudicated on by the Court of Arbitration for Sport — does matter, for all Coe's attempts this week to dismiss it as a "narrow and technical" dispute.
There are narrower questions in dispute, like whether "30 days" means 30 consecutive days and how dense a thicket of legal problems would be created by a ruling in favor of Mr. Hood.
But opinion polls have indicated that if that election were re-run now, his narrow and hotly disputed victory over opposition leader Henrique Capriles would be definitively overturned.
New rules will narrow the area of dispute before the trial starts.
But transparent, agreed procedures can, at least, narrow the areas of dispute and ensure that, even if a guillotine is eventually used by the government, the details of the legislation have a chance of being considered before this drastic step is taken.
The United Nations Law of the Sea, for example, has put almost all unprospected oil, gas and minerals under national jurisdictions, narrowing the scope for dispute (America has not ratified it, but says it will abide by it).
Richard Norton Smith (Op-Ed, Nov. 13) contends that Rutherford B. Hayes, who became president in 1877 by a narrow margin after the disputed 1876 election, established his administration's legitimacy by "rising above the party system" and embracing the cause of political reform.
