Consideration of "human rights" requires conviction

I'm not sure whether you're agreeing with me, disagreeing with me, or simply trying to clarify your point. For my point, it seems obvious there is no contradiction here. Human institutions are themselves approximations (or illusions, if one chooses to phrase it that way), and within the framework of the insitution it's natural that the "law as absolute" approximation would hold. That doesn't interfere with the "law as applied politics" view; they are the same thing viewed from different perspectives. It does seem rather futile to try to make a legal argument on the basis that 'law is politics', which tries to take the outside-the-framework view of law and apply it inside the framework.

I'm both agreeing and disagreeing with you. I especially like your most recent post. But I am pushing back on the way that you are using the word "law". Public opinion did not determine whether Mr. Holmdahl goes to jail. A judge determined it. I am taking an institutional, practical view that says things like, "The law is whatever a judge says it is." and "What the law is on any issue of law at any point in time is completely determined within the sovereign state according to (1) the organic law, (2) the legislated statutes, (3) the persons who comprise the judiciary, and (4) the customs and traditions that govern the behavior of those individuals.

You are telling a different story. Your story is just as true as my story, and it is just as interesting. IMO, your story understates the finality and correctness of what the High Court did to Mr. Holmes. Perhaps my story overstates it and the truth is somewhere in the middle.