So says Mark Kleiman in a fun post that takes digs at David Bernstein, Straussians, Ayn Rand, Joe Biden ("competence and courage"), and most especially Justice Clarence Thomas.
Posted by armand at October 3, 2007 10:47 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Law and the CourtsBetter than making the case for libel is the part about ideology, radicalism and being on the "winning team." Ouch.
Posted by: binky at October 4, 2007 08:44 AM | PERMALINKOh I agree with you there - that's all great and forcefully and cuttingly written. I was just really surprised to see him go so far as to propose a libel suit. That's why I highlighted that in the title.
Posted by: Armand at October 4, 2007 09:28 AM | PERMALINKkleiman passes on one of the really questionable theses forwarded by bernstein -- that where thomas ended up at the rightward extreme is in substantial part a direct consequence of the left's browbeating of him, as though he did it out of spite. either that's ridiculous -- and i find far more persuasive the "arriviste" interpretation -- or it's appalling, the thought that a supreme court justice would have only such jurisprudential convictions as wholly irrelevant political maneuvering drove him to. i can live with a justice who disagrees with me about how to interpret and apply the law; i can't live with one who formed his jurisprudential template purely as a matter of expediency or spite.
Posted by: moon at October 4, 2007 11:07 AM | PERMALINK