[Lady Lucky]

"In his lapidary new book..."

When did "lapidary" come to mean -- whatever is meant there?

[publius911]

C'mon, this is George Will. Make allowances.
I believe that this definition refers to "monumental," by admittedly a quite circuitous route.

[hinckley buzzard]

from Merriam-Webster: lapidary. adj.

"having the elegance and precision associated with inscriptions on monumental stone "

A peculiar way of describing an entire book.

[TheOldLady]

It certainly isn’t something I see every day, but observe definition #6:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lapidary?s=t

But I would not elevate Will’s essay to that height. For example, he’s advocating our allowing “activist judges,” and he lays calls for “judicial restraint” at the feet of Conservatives, but that talking point comes from the left.