Legal Juice

Do not trifle with Judge Reggie Walton, of the United States Court for the District of Columbia. He will let you have your say. Rest assured, though, that you're going to hear what he has to say too. When 12 of Scooter Libby's pals asked for the court's permission to file a brief supporting Scooter, it was granted, but with this little cherry on top:

It is an impressive show of public service when twelve prominent and distinguished current and former law professors of well-respected schools are able to amass their collective wisdom in the course of only several days to provide their legal expertise to the Court on behalf of a criminal defendant. The Court trusts that this is a reflection of these eminent academics' willingness in the future to step to the plate and provide like assistance in cases involving any of the numerous litigants, both in this Court and throughout the courts of our nation, who lack the financial means to fully and properly articulate the merits of their legal positions even in instances where failure to do so could result in monetary penalties, incarceration, or worse. The Court will certainly not hesitate to call for such assistance from these luminaries, as necessary in the interests of justice and equity, whenever similar questions arise in the cases that come before it.

Kapow! The 12 gents are: Robert Bork, Alan Dershowitz [!] Vikram Amar, Randy Barnett, Viet Dinh, Douglas Kmiec, Gary Lawson, Earl Maltz, Thomas Merrill, Robert Nagel, Richard Parker, and Robert Pushaw.

You can read the order here. Props to The Next Hurrah for this story.