The passage suggests that the realists believed which one of the following to be true of the dicta in a judge's writt...

rweyer August 1, 2017

I am guessing the reason why it's answer choice D is because of lines 35-42. It's a little tricky it seems to almost contradict itself but it does state that a subsequent judge is unlikely to dispute the original decision based off their dicta

Mehran August 31, 2017

Hi @carolyndavis, thanks for your post and apologies for the delayed reply!

Answer choice (D) is textually supported, as follows:

Lines 34-36 ("The realists argued that in practice the common-law system treats the 'holding/dicta' distinction loosely")

Lines 38-42 (" . . . judges writing subsequent opinions, although unlikely to dispute the decision itself, are not bound by the original judge's perception of what was essential to the decision")

Lines 42-44 ("Later judges have tremendous leeway in being able to redefine the holding and the dicta in a precedential case").

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any additional questions.