LSAT PrepTest 16 - Section 4 - Passage 2 - Question 11

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The United States Supreme Court has not always resolved legal issues of concern to Native Americans in a manner that has pleased the Indian nations. ████ ██ ███ █████████ █████████ ████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ███ █████████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████ ███ ████████ █████████ ████ ██ ████████ ████ ████ ████ ██ █████

Issue at hand · SCOTUS decisions concerning Native Americans have been controversial

Author's position · Judgments have generally been (somewhat) beneficial for Native Americans

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Signposting · Two examples will support the author's position against critics

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First example · Judicial doctrines generally favour Native American rights

Second example · Federalism is used to protect tribes from state encroachment

Passage Style

Single position

11.

It can be inferred that ███ ██████ █████ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ███████████████████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ██

Question Type

Meaning in context (of word, phrase, or idea)

Structure

In the first paragraph, the author calls the US judicial system "accommodating" to reference its history of making political compromises. As we saw in question 9, the tendency to compromise—i.e. the judicial system's "accommodating" nature—is one reason why the Court has made decisions that disadvantaged Native Americans.

This meaning is confirmed by looking at the second paragraph. Here, the author says that despite the judicial system's "accommodating" nature, its decisions have somewhat benefited Native Americans. The use of "despite" tells us that we're dealing with opposite ideas. If being "accommodating" is the opposite of benefiting Native Americans, it must reference disadvantageous outcomes for Native Americans.

suggest that the █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ███████ █████ ████ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ████ ████ ██████ ███████

(A) looks pretty good right up until it says "most people." The author isn't saying that Supreme Court decisions have been worse for Native Americans compared with common beliefs. The word "accommodating" is a concession that many Supreme Court decisions have been disadvantageous to Native Americans, but it's not a comparison.

suggest that the ██████ ██████ ███████ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████ █████████

At no point in the passage does the author make any arguments about how the Supreme Court should behave; the use of "accommodating" is no exception. The author is instead concerned with characterizing how the Supreme Court does behave. Calling it "accommodating" is instead a way to acknowledge its history of political compromises that disadvantage Native Americans.

suggest a reason ███ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ███████ █████ ████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██████ █████████

The author says the US judicial system has been reasonably favorable for Native Americans despite its "accommodating" nature. This shows us that being "accommodating" is in opposition to making decisions that favor Native Americans, which is confirmed by the use of "accommodating" in the first paragraph. In both cases, the justice system being "accommodating" explains why it has disadvantaged Native Americans.

56%

indicate that the ██████ ██████ ███████ █████ ███ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ █████████

Looking at the sentence as a whole, we see that the US judicial system has somewhat benefited Native Americans despite being "accommodating". In other words, being "accommodating" is in opposition to favoring Native Americans. "Accommodating" means open to political compromises, not accommodating cultural diversity.

16%

indicate that the ██████ ██████ ███████ █████ ████████ ██ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █ ████

The author states that despite being "accommodating," the US judicial system has overall benefited Native Americans. Being "accommodating" is an obstacle to favoring Native Americans, not a drive for fairness. The Court being "accommodating" means it makes political compromises, rather than sticking strictly to principles like fairness.

18%

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PrepTest 16 - Section 4 - Passage 2 - Question 11

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