About Law is Dead

On the Name

In 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote a parable called “The Madman.” A man lights a lantern in the bright morning and runs through the marketplace crying, “I seek God! I seek God!” The crowd laughs at him. Then he speaks:

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us?

Nietzsche was not celebrating atheism. He was diagnosing a crisis. “God” represented the metaphysical foundation upon which Western civilization had built its entire framework of meaning, morality, and social order. Through Enlightenment rationalism and the progress of modernity, humanity had dismantled the belief system that grounded all values—not through malice, but through the cumulative effect of progress itself.

The people in the marketplace laugh at the madman. They don't understand what he's saying. This was Nietzsche's point: society hadn't yet grasped the implications of what it had done. The madman concludes, “I have come too early.”

Law is Dead operates in that same spirit.

When executive power defies court orders without consequence, when oversight mechanisms are dismantled, when accountability becomes optional—the foundational assumption of “rule of law” can no longer be taken for granted. Like Nietzsche's God, the rule of law was the invisible scaffold upon which democratic governance was built. When that scaffold fails, what remains?

This is not nihilism. It is documentation. It is the work of examining what happens when the structures we assumed would hold reveal themselves as contingent, fragile, and dependent on choices we are still making.

Those documenting this erosion may, like the madman, be arriving too early. Many still assume the institutions will self-correct, that norms will reassert themselves, that each violation is an isolated incident rather than a pattern. The full implications haven't landed yet.

But unlike Nietzsche's parable, this is not prophecy. It is evidence. Our work is to gather it, analyze it, and present it clearly—so that whatever comes next can be faced with open eyes.

Mission

Law is Dead provides rigorous, cited analysis of rule of law, democratic institutions, and the exercise of power.

We believe that understanding institutional dynamics requires both legal precision and broader context from political science, history, and comparative analysis. Our goal is to illuminate patterns and mechanisms, not to advocate for particular outcomes.

We are not partisans. We are not prophets of doom. We are researchers who believe that honest documentation—however uncomfortable—serves democracy better than reassuring fictions.

Methodology

Our analysis draws on:

• Primary sources: Court filings, official statements, legislation, and government documents
• Academic literature: Peer-reviewed research on democratic erosion, institutional design, and comparative politics
• Quality journalism: Reporting from established outlets with strong editorial standards
• AI-assisted research: We use AI tools to synthesize information and identify patterns, always with human verification and editorial judgment

All significant claims are sourced. When we present analysis or interpretation, we distinguish it from factual reporting.

Editorial Policy

We maintain independence from political parties, advocacy organizations, and commercial interests. Our standards:

• Accuracy first: We verify claims before publishing and correct errors promptly
• Transparency: We show our work and link to sources so readers can verify our analysis
• Fairness: We present multiple perspectives on contested issues and acknowledge uncertainty
• Independence: We do not accept payment or other consideration for coverage

Corrections Policy

We take accuracy seriously. When we make errors:

• Factual errors are corrected immediately with a note appended to the article
• Significant corrections are noted at the top of the article
• Analytical revisions, where new information changes our interpretation, are published as updates or follow-up pieces

To report an error or suggest a correction, contact us at corrections@lawisdead.com.