The Volokh Conspiracy - Life Imitates Westlaw Natural Language Searches:

As I noted in a 2002 post on this blog:

About 10 years ago, when WESTLAW came out with its "Natural Language" search facility, I decided to enter the question, in the Supreme Court decisions database:

How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?

The answer my friend, was Terry v. Ohio, which lawyers recognize as the case where the Supreme Court upheld the right of police officers to stop and frisk (in some situations) suspicious-looking characters.

From a UPI story from yesterday:

Police in Long Branch, N.J., say an officer who stopped Bob Dylan in response to a suspicious person call did not recognize him....

"Dylan was really cool about the whole incident," [Sgt. Michael] Ahart told CNN, adding Dylan had been seen looking into the window of an area home up for sale prior to the incident.

Thanks to InstaPundit for the pointer.

	[Eugene Volokh, August 16, 2009 at 6:33pm] Trackbacks Life Imitates Westlaw Natural Language Searches: As I noted in a 2002 post on this blog: About 10 years ago, when WESTLAW came out with its "Natural Language" search facility, I decided to enter the question, in the Supreme Court decisions database: How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man? The answer my friend, was Terry v. Ohio, which lawyers recognize as the case where the Supreme Court upheld the right of police officers to stop and frisk (in some situations) suspicious-looking characters. From a UPI story from yesterday: Police in Long Branch, N.J., say an officer who stopped Bob Dylan in response to a suspicious person call did not recognize him.... "Dylan was really cool about the whole incident," [Sgt. Michael] Ahart told CNN, adding Dylan had been seen looking into the window of an area home up for sale prior to the incident. Thanks to InstaPundit for the pointer.