Legacy and Accountability

Abstract

This Essay considers the ways that the law can help or hinder the accountability of actors and institutions. It draws two implications from the failure of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to retire at a time that would have better secured the constitutional right to abortion. First, it suggests waysincluding information escrows—that the law could better dissuade individuals from taking actions that might tarnish and counterbalance the good they’ve done earlier in their lives. Second, it provides new empirical support for “regular Presidential appointment” reforms as a way to make the United States Supreme Court more democratically accountable.