Unjust laws are not laws—they are simply mandates. This type of mandate fundamentally contradicts the basis of our modem legal system: the U.S. and state constitutions, federal and state statutes, and the decisions of the federal or state courts (common law). Still, how conceptions of natural law play into the grand scheme of things, if they truly support our legal system, is a question that should be considered.

But what precisely is "natural law"? The term envelops several schools of thought, but generally, a "natural law" theory posits that the authority of laws and norms come from their relationship to, and support of, certain moral standards. The trouble is how those in positions of power set those moral standards. Peter Bloom, The Ethics of Neoliberalism: The Business of Making Capitalism Moral (2017). More specifically, the concern arises if the standards supporting "natural law" are truly about what is just, or simply an excuse to maintain or withhold power cloaked in the language of morality. Daniel Batson, The Altruism Question: Toward a Social-Psychological Answer (1st ed. 2014).