In this Article, Hutchinson provides an account of the common law tradition of judging that draws upon Hans-Georg Gadamer's writings that advance the intellectual project of critical legal theory. Hutchinson contends that Gadamer's hermeneutics can be utilized to offer a more radical and transformative reading of the common law tradition and explores what it means to treat law seriously as a living rhetorical tradition. This Article explores Hutchinson's theory by concentrating on the recent U.S. Supreme Court physician-assisted suicide decision in Washington v. Glucksberg. This Article relies upon the notion of "work-in-progress" as a productive optic through which to view and appreciate the dynamic and unfinishable quality of law, interpretation, and criticism.