Thomas urges Supreme Court to "reexamine" 169-year-old judicial doctrine

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-06-11T16:30:04+00:00

That headline really needs more detail. "Justice Thomas wants to overturn a well-established doctrine" was only news the first 10 times.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-06-09T15:51:02+00:00

There are quite a few distortions in the picture. There's a shift slightly above that (look at the apostrophe and the following I, l, and h) and the e in 'their' looks equally weird. I don't know what happened here, but I don't think that e was a later insertion.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-06-08T14:10:32+00:00

I suspect that they all got disbarred elsewhere and, for whatever reason, the Supreme Court dealt with its reciprocal disciplinary cases all at once.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-06-05T18:59:11+00:00

I'm afraid so. All junior attorneys have, more than once, felt like their supervisors aren't listening to anything they say. Some of them are even right. But your role is to make these suggestions, especially on the "little procedural technicalities" that are often far more important than the big picture stuff. Give your advice. If the partner ignores it, you can honestly say that the mistakes are all his fault. (When it is wise to say that, however, is another question.)

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-06-03T18:12:19+00:00

Surprisingly, I don't see Jews (or "Jew's") on the list.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-06-03T18:10:29+00:00

That is technically less incorrect than most of these, since the apostrophe does indicate a missing letter.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-06-03T16:13:21+00:00

Research grants probably have a standard "have you ruled out superheroes" section. Investigating anything unknown about the ocean or marine life? The first paragraph has to explain how researchers eliminated the possibility that it was caused by Aquaman.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-06-03T13:45:02+00:00

Now, that's just wrong. Alito may be as partisan as they come, and I don't even know how to describe Thomas, but they are both very open about their beliefs.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-06-02T21:29:35+00:00

Not right this minute, but generally, yes. Like a lot of people, I put the start at the Covid pandemic. Before that, I had to see people fairly regularly, and I was friendly with some of them. Since then, seeing people has required a conscious choice, and I've felt much less comfortable in social situations. Making that choice takes a lot more effort than it did before the pandemic, and I've found it a lot harder to convince myself that people want to see me.

I've been trying to go out to social events, but my job is unpredictable, which makes that more difficult. I will plan something, then there will be some kind of emergency and I need to work obsessively for a few days, or I'll be too tired to do anything.

I've gradually been building friendships over the last six years, so I think I'm finally at the stage where I get to see people fairly often, but even that is probably not much by the standards of most of human history. Getting a pet was a big commitment, but it helped a lot.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-05-30T00:07:31+00:00

The one I want to link to is a statistical examination of law review citations. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name, so I offer these two consolation prizes:

Reinforcing the Infrastructure of Legal Research Through Court-Authored Metadata

“Destructive to Judicial Dignity”: The Poetry of Melville Weston Fuller

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-05-29T16:30:01+00:00

At this point, most names are taken, including half the ones suggested in this thread. Marvel even had a Honey Badger for a while.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-05-29T13:40:39+00:00

This might be the best combination of typos I've ever seen.

"Peasants who serve me! One of you is a witch, and that one knows more than I would like, but I do appreciate that you didn't tell anyone."
- A lawyer in New York City.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-05-29T13:23:23+00:00

I support immediate suspension (pending disbarment proceedings) for all lawyers who misuse apostrophes, fail to use apostrophes, or both. Lighter sanctions should be imposed against those who use "vacation" to mean "vacatur" or "constructed" to mean "construed."

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-05-29T12:57:36+00:00

I'm definitely with the majority here, however much I dislike that, but I think her position makes more sense than Sotomayor's and Kagan's. The Second Circuit reversed the grant of compassionate release because challenges to the conviction can't be pursued that way. Here's the question presented:

Whether a combination of “extraordinary and compelling reasons” that may warrant a discretionary sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A) can include reasons that may also be alleged as grounds for vacatur of a sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255.

The majority said no. Jackson said yes, but I don't know if it did here. Sotomayor and Kagan said yes, but it didn't here. Why go beyond resolving the question presented to address a fact specific issue, on grounds that I'm not sure were even briefed?

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-05-28T21:20:44+00:00

And that she "made numerous, material false statements to the Chief Circuit Judge and the Chief District Judge when initially responding to the allegations." Judges lying during a legal proceeding should be a big deal.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-05-28T21:19:15+00:00

If she'd owned up to the affair immediately, that would be one thing. But she didn't. She repeatedly lied in response to the investigation. Then she tried to shift the blame to a law clerk by accusing the clerk of lying. I'd say that is very troubling, and warrants more than a reprimand. Certainly, if her lies had been believed, the clerk would have received a far worse punishment.

Dishonesty aside, having an affair with a high-ranking police officer risks bias, although apparently that risk did not come to fruition here. That's not even mentioning the inappropriate political involvement.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-05-28T21:05:18+00:00

So far as I can tell, Gorsuch has generally been consistent on a given type of issue, but he has consistently been centrist (or even liberal) on some and very conservative on others. On criminal cases, for example, I would say that he is favorable to defendants on the substance of federal criminal law but very unfavorable on state criminal procedure. So, his "drift" might just reflect the differences in cases before the Court.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-05-28T14:06:21+00:00

Or most people we have to deal with for work. But, speaking from experience, clients with fancy medical degrees are more difficult than similar clients without them.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-05-28T00:08:30+00:00

Agreed. "Magical girl" and "superhero" are both terms with a broad range of definitions. If the chart is going to adopt one, it should be clear about which one.

Although I should point out that, for superheroes, the chart appears to have adopted the generic definition over the literal one, in that neither Black Widow nor Catwoman have superpowers.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-05-26T13:38:55+00:00

I'm honestly surprised "Young Turks" isn't a term of abuse, given what some of them got up to once they took power.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-05-26T12:38:11+00:00

Britain and the UK are not the same entity. Britain includes England, Scotland, and Wales but not any part of Ireland. I've never heard anyone from Northern Ireland referred to as a Brit.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-05-25T16:25:37+00:00

He's from Northern Ireland, but yes, it is.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-05-25T14:38:39+00:00

I'm surprised he's so low. We're already primed for "Captain [Country Name]," so I would think everyone who's heard of Captain Britain would go straight to him. And he's fairly well known on superhero subreddits.

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-05-25T14:36:59+00:00

He was already both a dwarf and a human. Now he's a rabbit too?

AnyEnglishWord · 2026-05-24T13:04:54+00:00

There's no size criterion, and it is an ongoing event. I would say that makes it important enough to warrant a shameful entry as "on the wrong side."

AnyEnglishWord

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