Q5

[Nina]

I eliminate B because of the wording "unfavorable". Is this equal to "sympathetic litigants"?

Thanks a lot!

[tommywallach]

Hey Nina,

That's absolutely right. Keep in mind, this is an inference question (whenever they say "the passage provides the most support for which of the following"), which means you shouldn't expect the correct answer to use ONLY language you've read in the passage. They're going to expect you to translate a bit.

For example, if I say: "I have a car. What can you infer?"

The correct answer might be: "Tommy is in possession of a vehicle used the conveyance of goods and people from place to place."

Notice that it's entirely new words ("conveyance" "possession" "vehicle"), but it means the same thing as a car, for the sake of the LSAT. Thus, you should never be crossing off answers merely because they use a word you haven't read before. Now, if the word represents a CONCEPT that isn't in the passage, that's different, but in this case, you hit the nail on the head.

(A) We have no reason to believe the MOTIVATIONS changed during his tenure. We don't learn much about motivations.

(B) If Marshall attempted to find "sympathetic litigants," it means that he chose not to use people who weren't sympathetic. In this definition, sympathetic means "capable of eliciting sympathy", or "likeable."

(C) The NAACP didn't oppose his methods, though people have questioned them after the fact.

(D) The comparison isn't made between the two courts in terms of experts.

(E) It wasn't the NAACP that extended these methods, but OTHER groups.

Hope that helps!

-t

[典张120]

I just cannot understand B. The passage mentioned that Marshall tended to selecte the sympathetic litigants. But B says that he didn't like the people who were impressive to public??

[ohthatpatrick]

"making an impression" ≠ "being impressive"

You can make a negative impression, a positive impression, a confusing impression, etc.

If you make an "unfavorable impression", that would mean that people get a bad vibe from you.
(B) is saying that Marshall eschewed taking cases when the plaintiff would have probably given most people a bad vibe.

This is the "logic-shadow" of the passage saying that "he specifically took on cases with sympathetic cases".
If I made a concerted effort to pick shiny apples, then we can infer that I probably turned down some dusty apples along the way.