[dragonwriter]

> That's the opposite of the conventional wisdom on the strengths of the judiciary, so much so that there's a norm that courts defer to legislatures on findings of fact

There... isn't such a norm (at least not in the American system) courts defer to legislatures on matters of policy, not fact. There's a norm that appellate courts in most cases have some deference to lower courts on findings of fact, reviewing them only for unreasonableness, but nothing about courts deferring to legislatures about matters of fact.

[dctoedt]

> There... isn't such a norm (at least not in the American system) courts defer to legislatures on matters of policy, not fact. There's a norm that appellate courts in most cases have some deference to lower courts on findings of fact, reviewing them only for unreasonableness, but nothing about courts deferring to legislatures about matters of fact.

That's very much an overstatement, and arguably even flat-out incorrect. See https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article...