What does Harvey C. Mansfield think about the rule of law ?
Hint -- the C does not stand for consistent.

Glenn Greewald reports that, at the moment, Prof. Mansfield does not think very highly of the rule of law.

The Wall St. Journal online has today published a lengthy and truly astonishing article by Harvard Government Professor Harvey Mansfield, which expressly argues that the power of the President is greater than "the rule of law."

The article bears this headline: The Case for the Strong Executive -- Under some circumstances, the Rule of Law must yield to the need for Energy.

Mansfield is careful to write "In some circumstances I could see myself defending the rule of law," which is just as well since, obviously those circumstances occur whenever the interests of the Republican party are served by the letter of the law as is noted by Tristero

This is not a hypothesis. The truth is easily at hand if one googles
mansfield "comedy stylings" has enough discipline to skip "Machine Gun Fellatio, East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival and clicks to read Scott Lemieux who writes

For example, let's turn to the comedy stylings of Harvey C. Mansfield:

The two parties were very much themselves throughout. The Republicans stand for the rule of law, and the Democrats for the rule of the people. And the Democrats, because they stand for the rule of the people, believe that rule should be paramount, and that technicalities are subordinate to that will. Whereas the Republicans believe in doing things properly or legally. It really was a contest of principle between two parties.

Yes, nothing reflects standing for "the rule of law" than 1)purging people from the voting rolls in violation of the Voting Rights Act, 2)creating bourgeois riots to stop vote recounts, 3)arguing that technically illegal ballots should be counted while simultaneously arguing that the Florida courts were undermining the "rule of law," and then having your claims upheld by 4)a flagrantly lawless and partisan opinion by a bare majority of the Supreme Court.

Harvey Mansfield was for the rule of law before he was against it.