Frank I. Michelman, On the Uses of Interpretive 'Charity': Some Notes on Application, Avoidance, Equality and Objective Unconstitutionality from the 2007 Term of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, 1 Const. Ct. Rev. 1 (2008).
Abstract: To hear Stu Woolman tell it, disturbing lapses and weaknesses - an apparent 'lack of analytical rigour' suggesting what could be a 'penchant for outcome-based decision-making' - have been showing up recently in the work of a Constitutional Court whose prior record of performance has deservedly garnered widespread applause. Woolman cites as evidence three decisions from the Court's work in the year 2007: Barkhuizen, Masiya, and NM, and suggests that his reactions to these decisions are widely shared among South Africa's well-informed Court-followers. He makes a worthy, illuminating, formidable case, one that the Court would do well to consult and ponder.