Is It Soup Yet?

Professor Paul Horwitz’s Prawfsblawg post is a basically fair appraisal of the sociology and pathologies of law. It is not much in the way of praise. But I do not expect praise—at least not as a matter of course. 

 

He gets two things, in my view, wrong. First, the media elites did not push Judge Wallace, in the Colorado trial court, to rule as she did. That was all on Judge Wallace. Also Blackman and I did not push Judge Wallace—as we had no amicus brief at that stage. Indeed, to date, during the Section 3 cases, Blackman and I have pushed the non-self-executing argument much more heavily than the “officer of the U.S.” argument. Moreover, Judge Wallace, is (I have read) a Democratic donor in a Democratic state, and I believe she was (initially) appointed by a Democratic governor to her judicial position. Was she really moved by Fox News and other media reports? It is true that the Blackman/Tillman “officer of the U.S.”-position on did not fare well before the Colorado Supreme Court. But it was adopted by the trial court. That’s enough to put it on or near the “wall.”

 

Second, I am not “monkish”—even if it is used as a “compliment.” Just, maybe, I am boringly repetitive. In my defense, I would point out that I am on U.S., Irish, and other foreign media fairly regularly. And I write in many fora—not just academic journals with small and specialized readerships. My email address is public information. People of all sorts and all perspectives reach out to me all the time. 

Seth Barrett Tillman, ‘Is It Soup Yet,’ New Reform Club (Dec. 22, 2023, 2:49 PM), <https://reformclub.blogspot.com/2023/12/is-it-soup-yet.html>;