"The U.S. Supreme Court (SC) has not always resolved legal issues of concern to Native Americans in a manner that has pleased the Indian nations. Many of the Court's decisions have been products of political compromise that looked more to the temper of the times than to enduring principles of law. But accommodation is part of the judicial system in the U.S., and judicial decisions must be assessed with this fact in mind."
The author states that many of the decisions made by the SC have been products of political compromise that are based more in the times than in the principles of law. The passage then goes on to say, "but accommodation is part of the judicial system." As this statement directly follows the point that decisions made by the SC have been products of a form of political compromise, we can safely assume that these political compromises are the "accommodation" that is being referred to as opposed to the usual sense of the word which refers to providing far and equal opportunities.
Therefore, line 10 of the passage is saying that, despite this "accommodating" nature, the SC has actually exercised its power in a manner that is usually beneficial on minor issues and not "wholly detrimental" on larger issues. So, the author is saying that, despite making decisions based on the political climate rather than on the principles of law, the SC has actually been beneficial in some cases and not wholly detrimental in other cases.
As the second half of this statement claims that the SC has been positive, we can infer from this and the use of quotation marks that the author believes that this "accommodating" nature is negative. This is reinforced by the first paragraph which claims that the SC has not always resolved legal issues in a manner that is pleasing to Native Americans and then provides the political compromise of accommodation as a reason why.
Therefore, C is the correct answer as the author is referring to the tactic of "accommodation" to suggest a potential explanation for why the decisions of the SC have not always favoured Native Americans.
Hope this is helpful! Please let us know if you have any further questions.
denleybishopFebruary 6, 2022
me too
RaviFebruary 8, 2022
@denleybishop, E doesn't work because the accommodating nature isn't necessarily fair to every party. In lines 6-7, the passage describes it as making compromises and not appealing to enduring legal principles, so we can remove this choice.
