Render up the body

I suppose the main attraction of formalism to judges is that it makes them feel like somebody or rather something else (“the law”) is pulling the trigger. Thus morally outrageous conclusions, such as the idea that there’s nothing illegal about executing an innocent man, have a certain perverse functionality to the formalist, since they “prove” to him that he’s really doing law, since of course he would never countenance such an outcome himself. But since he’s only following orders . . .