Gonzales and the ALL Statement: Some Help from Thomas More

Regarding the recent American Life League statement -- that Rob, Fr. Araujo, and I have been discussing -- on Attorney General Gonzales:  Friend and law prof Eric Claeys passes on a helpful reminder from "A Man for All Seasons" about the importance of the rule of law (congrats to Rob for getting to be St. Thomas!):

Alice:  Arrest him!
Margaret:  Father, that man's bad.
More:   There is no law against that.
Roper:  There is!  God's law!
More: Then God can arrest him.
Roper:  Sophistication upon sophistication!
More:  No, sheer simplicity.  The law, Roper, the law.  I know what's legal not what's right.  And I'll stick to what's legal.
Roper:  Then you set man's law above God's!
More:  No, far below; but let me draw your attention to a fact--I'm _not_ God.  The currents and eddies of right and wrong, which you find such plain sailing, I can't navigate.  I'm no voyager.  But in the thickets of the law, oh, there I'm a forester. . . .

...

Roper: So now you'd give the Devil benefit of law!
More:  Yes.  What would you do?  Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
Roper:  I'd cut down every law in England to do that!
More:  Oh?  And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you--where would you hide, Roper, the laws being flat?  This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast--man's laws, not God's--and if you cut them down--and you're just the man to do it--d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?  Yes, I'd give the Devil the benefit of law, for my own safety's sake.

Again, this discussion is not about the "I'm personally opposed to abortion but cannot impose my morality on others" stance.  It is about (what appears to be) ALL's claim that a commitment by a lower-court or state-court to apply even offensive laws and precedents is, morally speaking, reducible to the "personally opposed" stance.

Rick