In a recent article in Law and History Review (paywall), Temple University historian Alan McPherson makes a bold claim. He identifies two fraught attitudes toward the rule of law: (1) "when the ends seem to justify the means officials could disregard statutes"; and (2) "statutes require no enforcement mechanisms because government officials should obey them out of patriotism." According to McPherson the first of these attitudes is "held mostly by conservatives and the second, mostly by liberals."
McPherson uses the lens of the Iran-Contra scandal to explore this claim, by he hardly limits himself to that example. What empirical evidence does he have for this claim? Social science research? Polling data? Nope. Just his subjective impressions based on his understanding of how Republican administrations have behaved versus Democratic administrations.
I laughed out loud when I got to his depiction of the Obama administration. "To be sure Democrats to were guilty…. The otherwise scandal free administration of Barack Obama dealt with enemy prisoners through illegal kidnapping and torture, and he ordered countless assassinations of foreigners withdrawn strikes – all crimes under US law."
