November 16, 2005

"We have free speech too, don't we?"

Judge Posner asks, rhetorically, ruing the demise of Article III Groupie:
"If he does it on his own time and does not compromise his official duties in some way, I don't see the problem," the judge said in an e-mail message. "We have free speech too, don't we?

"If Lat appears before judges whom he's made fun of in his blog or who may be offended by the blog (the humorless judges), then there might be a problem, though only a problem if he is 'outed' - and he outed himself!"

Counting on other people to have a sense of humor is a very dangerous business.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't I know it!

Unknown said...

Of course he has free speech, but isn't this tantamount to gossiping verbally about judges? If you want to represent your client well, gossiping is usually thought of as something you shouldn't do.

An attorney I knew made a very sarcastic and sometimes funny speech about court personnel at a bar dinner once, and the judges were rightly insulted. I don't know if that hurt his clients, but it could have.

goesh said...

It is gratifying to see that the blog was thoroughly enjoyed - puts a good, human face on them all..real people with tough jobs being able to laugh at themselves and each other

Adam said...

I have no sympathy for Mr. Lat -- he chose fame, and there are consequences to that.

I blog about a lot of things, but never anything that has to do with my work.