Um, yeah . . . that’s not how you do it

So let’s say you’re a legal blogger. One day, when writing about developments at your local court, you get a little carried away. You suggest that the judges might be venal, corrupt, unscrupulous. You don’t mince words.

So the Bar comes calling. Because while attorneys can certainly exercise their first amendment rights in criticizing judges, there are limits (limits roughly congruent with the counters of public figure defamation) to so doing.

Faced with disciplinary proceedings in such circumstances, you would have choices. You could choose to be remorseful, and plead a temporary overload of emotion. You could choose to stand on your rights, and argue that your statements are protected by the first amendment and that the judges should grow a thicker skin.

Or, you could choose to sue the disciplinary authorities for copyright infringement for including portions of your blog in the disciplinary filings.

If you wonder how door #3 would work out, well, it’s about what you would expect.