Posner Thoughts Annotated: An Interview With Jack Metzler

Can't get enough of Judge Richard Posner? There's a book for that!

Is Judge Richard Posner the Beyoncé of the federal bench? I’ve suggested this before — and the major reaction to his surprise retirement only confirms his celebrity status. To paraphrase the Queen Bey, “You know you that [judge] when you cause all this conversation.”

Based on the high readership of our Richard Posner coverage, it seems the legal world has an insatiable appetite for news and knowledge about this famously brilliant and iconoclastic thinker. Luckily, authors are happy to oblige.

Last summer witnessed the publication of Richard Posner (affiliate link), Bill Domnarski’s full-length biography of the celebrated jurist. This week brings us something on the lighter side, but no less worthwhile: Posner Thoughts Annotated, based on the Twitter feed of the same name.

The book features, among other things, an absolutely hilarious introduction by Dick Posner himself. Here’s an excerpt (the background is that Posner objects to the book referring to him as “the smartest man in the world” as opposed to “the smartest person in the world”):

Let any woman claiming to be at once the smartest woman in the world and smarter even than the renowned Judge Richard A. Posner the First step forth, identify herself, and enter into a competition with me to determine which of us is in fact smarter and therefore smartest. The stages of our contest, I suggest, should be: imitating cat sounds; writing judicial opinions backward; a boxing match without boxing gloves; estimating the IQs of the Supreme Court Justices in the range 80 to 89; and being first to steal a spittoon from behind the bench of the Supreme Court.

And yes, that’s really Posner (in case the brilliance of the @Posner_Thoughts tweets makes you think the introduction is satire as well).

I recently interviewed Jack Metzler, co-author of the book along with the pseudonymous @Posner_Thoughts. Here’s a (lightly edited and condensed) write-up of our conversation.

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DL: Congratulations on the publication of Posner Thoughts Annotated! It’s highly entertaining, and it’s also a rich trove of information about one of our nation’s leading legal minds. Can you tell us a bit about the genesis of the project?

JM: Well, most people who have heard of @Posner_Thoughts or seen it on Twitter understand that the tweets parody judge Posner’s views. But they might not realize how often the “thoughts” come directly from things Posner said or wrote himself. Posner Thoughts Annotated seeks to remedy that by giving a citation, usually with a quote, for each of the thoughts in the book.

DL: The book is perfectly timed — thanks to his surprise retirement, Judge Posner is all over the news. What was your reaction to the news of his leaving the bench?

JM: I was surprised. I had been wondering what he would do as he approached 80 years old — the age when he’s said retirement should be mandatory for federal judges — because he turns 79 in January. I was glad to learn that it wasn’t prompted by some health related news (apparently the reason was friction with other Seventh Circuit judges).

DL: Your co-author, the author of the @Posner_Thoughts Twitter feed, is anonymous. What can you tell us about this individual — and might you perhaps be involved in the tweeting?

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JM: My agreement with @Posner_Thoughts is that I may neither confirm nor deny anything about the identity of PT except that it’s not Posner himself, Justice Kagan, or (clearly) Justice Scalia (each of whom has been speculated to be behind the account).

Jack Metzler

DL: You’re an active participant in the world of legal media, including but not limited to #AppellateTwitter. But you also have a “day job,” as a lawyer with the federal government. Have you confronted any difficulties or challenges in terms of balancing your work for the government and your extracurricular pursuits?

JM: When I was in private practice I worked a lot of hours, many at home and late at night. If I had an an idea for an article or some other project, I would write it down for whenever I might have time to do it, but that time never seemed to arrive. I still write down my ideas, but the difference now is that I sometimes actually do them. I probably wind up working about the same number of hours overall, but some of them are on things I’ve chosen to do. Also, I still don’t sleep as much as I should.

DL: As you’ve mentioned in past interviews, some government lawyers are nervous or skittish about Twitter and other forms of social media. Do you have any advice for government attorneys who are thinking about entering this world?

JM: Government employees should be aware of the standards of conduct and their ethical obligations as government employees so that they don’t accidentally run afoul of them on social media, especially because some prohibitions might not be intuitive (like what constitutes charitable fundraising). Ethics officials are very helpful on that too. One practice I follow is not identifying myself with my employer and never discussing anything related to my cases or the agency.

DL: Over the years, you’ve worked on several interesting projects in the world of legal media. Before Posner Thoughts Annotated, you published The Solicitor General’s Style Guide (affiliate link), and you’re also the tweeter behind the (delightful and useful) @SCOTUSPlaces Twitter feed. Can you tell us about what we might expect from you in the future?

JM: In the relatively near future I will be publishing an article proposing “(cleaned up)” — a new parenthetical to help solve the mess of brackets, ellipses, and “___ omitted” parentheticals that legal writers face when quoting decisions that quote earlier decisions, which often are quoting earlier decisions still. About ten judges and several dozen practitioners have already started using “(cleaned up).” A version of the article is available on SSRN. I don’t want to make promises beyond that, but I do have an idea for a book mashup of famous Supreme Court cases and internet memes. Working title: ConLOL.

DL: ConLOL… to quote the First Son, “I love it!” Congrats again on the book, and thanks for taking the time to chat.

Posner Thoughts Annotated [CreateSpace]
Cleaning Up Quotations [Journal of Appellate Practice and Process]

Earlier: Judge Richard Posner: An Interview With His Biographer, William Domnarski


DBL square headshotDavid Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at dlat@abovethelaw.com.