2004 — Stuart E. Eizenstat, Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor, and the Unfinished Business of World War II, PublicAffairs (2004), →ISBN, page 295:
To thread the needle between the plaintiffs' lawyers, who insisted on being able to reopen all past restitution cases, and the Austrian government, which wanted none challenged, I suggested that property claims could be allowed where there were "gaps and deficiencies" in postwar Austrian restitution laws.
2006 — L. Paul Bremer (with Malcom McConnell), My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope, Simon & Schuster (2006), →ISBN, page 381:
And I suggested we have the UN resolution endorse the concept of federalism, which the Kurds wanted, and the timetable for the January 2005 elections, as a way to thread the needle between the Kurdish and Sistani demands.
2008 — Christopher Gergen & Gregg Vanourek, Life Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Creating Extraordinary Lives, Jossey-Bass (2008), →ISBN, page 10:
It is the life entrepreneur who is able to thread the needle, preserving the quality of life while thriving in his chosen context.
President Obama has managed to thread the needle with his newly announced Afghanistan strategy, with his approach winning the approval of a majority of both Democrats (58%) and Republicans (55%) in a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Wednesday night.
2010 — James C. Foster, Bong Hits 4 Jesus: A Perfect Constitutional Storm in Alaska's Capital, University of Alaska Press (2010), →ISBN, page 215:
Were I writing for the Court, I would seek to thread the needle between acknowledging Principal Morse's authority, on the one hand, while respecting student Frederick's rights, on the other.
2011 — Christopher S. Elmendorf, "Empirical Legitimacy and Election Law", in Race, Reform, and Regulation of the Electoral Process: Recurring Puzzles in American Democracy (eds. Guy-Uriel E. Charles, Heather K. Gerken, & Michael S. Kang), Cambridge University Press (2011), →ISBN, page 126:
In some legal domains, judges have tried to thread the needle — keeping constitutional law congruent with contemporary political morality while honoring norms of legality — by defining rights in terms of the consensus practices of the states.
2012 — Kenneth Anderson, "Efficiency in Bello and ad Bellum: Making the Use of Force Too Easy?", in Targeted Killings: Law and Morality in an Asymmetrical World (eds. Claire Finkelstein, Jens David Ohlin, Andrew Altman), Oxford University Press (2012), →ISBN, page 398 (footnote):
I believe that this is approximately the position that Lincoln takes in the final paragraph of the Second Inaugural Address, in which he attempts to thread the needle between a moral absolutism, on the one hand, and moral relativism, on the other.
2012 — Simon Finger, The Contagious City: The Politics of Public Health in Early Philadelphia, Cornell University Press (2012), →ISBN, page 42:
In the wake of the recruitment controversy, Governor Thomas tried to thread the needle by providing for the "poor Palantines" without exposing the province to the risk of infection.
2012 — Samuel L. Popkin, The Candidate: What It Takes to Win - And Hold - The White House, Oxford University Press (2012), →ISBN, page 42:
Although the Carter campaign managed to thread the needle in that complicated situation in Philadelphia, it ignited a firestorm when Carter addressed the Irish National Congress in Pittsburgh.
2012 — Brett WIlson, A Race Of Female Patriots: Women and Public Spirit on the British Stage, 1688-1745, Bucknell University Press (2012), →ISBN, page 294:
George Berkeley tries to thread the needle by advocating a combination of nonresistance to rightful rulers with the ability to refuse unjust commands: […]
