My one-line def.: anything that causes a person to be in agony.

Okay, I've read the article; typical rationalization technique for saying, "I can make the law say what I want it to"; very akin to doing the same thing to statistical info.

Couple of asides: I tried, with only partial success, to do some sussing on Slate. I will grudgingly for now assume that it is not made up of fictional stories.
Secondly, I finally looked up deconstruction(ism), never having learned about it before. Sorry if this offends anyone, but IMHO: how stupid.
'Nother aside: I wonder if that lawyer voted/works for Bush...
That whole thing reminded me of ...someone else; it sounded very much as though a defense were being prepared for charges that haven't even been made, yet. Gave me a distinct read-between-the-lines feeling of, "Gee, I know I/we have done/are doing something wrong; I'd better prepare something that I can point back to and say, 'Well, look right here--this says I was innocent' ."