Tommorrow, I will be speaking at a panel on “The Art of Legal Blogging” at Princeton University. The other panelists will be Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSblog and Alex Wohl of ACSblog. The panel will be held at 4:30 in Robertson Hall, Rm. 002.
I will try to focus my remarks on the contribution that academic lawbloggers can make to public debate. Our main comparative advantage, in my view, is our ability to bring to bear our expertise on particular areas of law and public policy. We usually cannot compete with the traditional media in breaking news stories; nor are our talents likely to be effectively used if we simply cheer on a particular political party or candidate. At the same time, we have to present our knowledge in such a way that it will be accessible to nonexpert readers. Also important, but very difficult to achieve, is the ability to reach out to readers who don’t already share our views.