The fact that a method of legal interpretation treats a provision as contributing to the law in the way that is supported by fairness (say) is an argument in favor of the correctness of that method only if fairness is relevant to the method’s ability to identify a provision’s contribution to the content of the law. But whether fairness is relevant in this way depends on how the content of the law is determined. Thus, whether typical normative arguments are apt depends on how the content of the law is determined. For example, if normative factors play no role in determining the content of the law, then it’s hard to see how the fact that a method of interpretation treats a source as contributing to the law in a way that is fair bears on whether it accurately identifies a provision’s contribution to the content of the law.