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Fidelity to law does not mean blind obedience—it allows for interpretation and change through proper legal channels (e.g., amendments, new legislation)—but it rejects the idea that officials may disregard or reshape the law based on their own ideals.
What does it mean to be faithful to law? At first glance, it implies simply obeying a statute or following a precedent. Yet consider a judge in Nazi Germany applying the Nuremberg Laws, or a civil rights activist in 1960s Alabama violating a segregation ordinance. In both cases, one could argue that the actor was "faithful" to the written law. Conversely, one could argue that they were profoundly unfaithful to a deeper conception of law. Thus, the central puzzle of fidelity is that (Dworkin, 1986). To be faithful to law, one must first decide what counts as law—a decision that already involves a theory of fidelity.
Today, the meaning of fidelity to law is under severe strain.
