Underneath Their Robes

Seeking A New Writer

Things have been very quiet here at Underneath Their Robes. Your hostess with the mostest in federal judicial gossip, Article III Groupie, is toying with the idea of letting a new writer take over this site and generate new content -- if she can find the right person for the job.

This would not be a paid position -- alas, UTR doesn't make money for your undersigned blogress -- but a labor of love, for someone fascinated by federal judges and eager to blog about them. You could write as much as or as little as you like; the only requirement is that you stick to the subject matter. Writing under a pseudonym is permissible, even encouraged; it gives the site an air of mystery, and generates buzz.

If you might be interested, please email Article III Groupie (ArticleIIIGroupie at gmail.com), and tell her a little bit about yourself and why you'd like to write for UTR. Thanks.

More from Above the Law

The new website that Article III Groupie mentioned yesterday, Above the Law, is up and running. Here are a few posts that readers of UTR might enjoy:

1. Every Unhappy Appellate Court Is Unhappy In Its Own Way (about benchslappery at the Sixth Circuit)

2. The White House Counsel's Office: Here Comes the Cavalry (about various job moves by conservative "young gun" lawyers)

3. Yo Holmes! The Tenth Circuit's Newest Member (about Judge Jerome Holmes, just confirmed to the Tenth Circuit)

4. Another Judge Leaves for Greener Pastures (about Chief Judge Michael Mukasey's retirement from the S.D.N.Y.)

5. Neal Katyal: The Paris Hilton of the Legal Elite? (about Neal Katyal, one of the brightest stars in the SCOTUS clerk firmament)

6. The Upcoming SCOTUS Term: More of the Same (an irreverent preview of October Term 2006 at the Supreme Court)

7. Legal Eagle Wedding Watch (links to multiple posts, collected on one page) (exegesis of the New York Times wedding announcements of high-powered lawyers from the past few weeks)

Okay, now A3G is really signing off for the holiday. Happy Labor Day!

Another Cool New Website

It's called Above the Law. Check it out here.

An Interesting Review of Jeremy Blachman's "Anonymous Lawyer"

Available here.

Earlier: A UTR Summer Reading List

A UTR Summer Reading List

Here are a few books that Article III Groupie has read or is looking forward to reading:

Anonymous Lawyer, by Jeremy Blachman (of Anonymous Lawyer blog fame). This is a quick, fun read. Some readers -- especially those who have actually worked at law firms, unlike Blachman (who was spared that fate) -- may find the satire too over-the-top, a few plot details implausible, or the humor a little repetitive. But the book has some laugh-out-loud moments, and it's briskly plotted. In short, it's a good summer book. Enjoy it by the pool or at the beach.

In the Shadow of the Law, by Kermit Roosevelt. A3G briefly blogged about it last summer; now it's out in paperback. A3G hasn't read it yet, but a law school classmate strongly recommended it (as did Alan Dershowitz). Roosevelt is one of the Elect (OT 1999/Souter), as well as super-cute. This book is on A3G's nightstand.

Courtiers of the Marble Palace, by Todd C. Peppers. Given her obsession with Supreme Court clerks, Article 3 Groupie can't wait to start reading this one. It's worth buying just for the appendix material alone, which includes a comprehensive listing of Supreme Court clerks from 1884 to 2004 (by justice). WOW!

Becoming Justice Blackmun, by Linda Greenhouse. This book, by the Femme Fatale of One First Street, received glowing reviews when it appeared last year. Now it's also out in paperback. Get your hands on a copy, stat!

The Interpretation of Murder, by Jed Rubenfeld. This historical thriller, based on the life of Sigmund Freud, won't hit bookstores until September (although A3G has finagled herself a copy, 'cause she's that cool). It's not about legal subjects; but its author, the hunky Jed Rubenfeld, is a professor at Yale Law School (as is his stunning wife, Amy Chua).

Rubenfeld's publisher, Henry Holt, paid him an eye-popping advance (reportedly $800,000). It's also supporting the book with a $500,000 marketing campaign. They're betting big on this one.

Interesting factoid: Blachman and Rubenfeld share the same editor (John Sterling) at the same publisher (Henry Holt), as well as the same superstar agent (Suzanne Gluck of William Morris, the queen of literary dealmaking). If you think the legal world is small, check out publishing circles.

Happy Reading!

The Prodigal Blogress Returns

You can expect to hear more from Article III Groupie in the weeks ahead. Details here.

Early wishes for a happy Fourth of July!

A Quick Housekeeping Announcement

Much thanks to all of you who responded to Article Three Groupie's call for assistance. She hasn't had the chance yet to go through all of your submissions, but she will be doing so shortly. She'll let you know as soon as she's had the chance to review everything she has received.

Thank you for your support!

A UTR Reform Plan

As Article III Groupie previously explained, changed circumstances prevent her from devoting as much time to Underneath Their Robes as she would like. In order for this blog to maintain its position as a leading source of news and gossip about the federal judiciary, A3G needs your help, which she now respectfully requests.

This post describes the reforms A3G will be instituting here at UTR, which are designed to ensure a steady stream of content for this blawg. In the blogosphere, lengthy blogging hiatuses -- like the ones that A3G took in November 2005 and March 2006 -- cannot be tolerated.

So here is what A3G pleadingly asks of her readership, in order to keep this blog alive and kicking:

1. Intern Assistance. A3G expects to do most of her UTR blogging in the evening. Unfortunately, she no longer has the time to scour dozens of newspapers and blawgs for the raw material for her blogging.

So what A3G needs is an intern to collect this material for her and serve it up on a silver platter, in a daily "linkwrap" post, which would be published on UTR. It would be comparable to the round-ups that Liz Aloi does at SCOTUSblog (e.g., this post) or that Henry Seltzer does at Wonkette (e.g., this post), but narrowly focused on federal judicial news and gossip. 

Interested in helping out? If so, please make your case, and then email A3G (subject line: "Internship"). Please do so on or before Friday, May 12.

Why should you volunteer to be A3G's intern? First, if you're a reader of this blog, you probably already follow judicial news and gossip closely -- this wouldn't involve much additional work. Second, there may be a modest stipend involved. Third, you may have the opportunity to do more original, non-round-up blogging at UTR. If you have some interesting and original ideas for judicial gossip blogging, A3G is happy to let you use UTR as a platform for executing them.

Note: This additional writing would happen on a case-by-case basis, with the prior approval of A3G. The egotistical A3G does not want to get upstaged by her understudy, a la Margo Channing of All About Eve!

2. Guest Bloggers. Each week, UTR will have a guest blogger, who will blog about that week's developments in federal judicial news. Of course, as a guest blogger, you're not limited to that week's news; you can pretty much blog about whatever you like, as long as you stick to the bread and butter of UTR (gossip and frivolous commentary about federal judges, no substantive legal analysis).

If you have any big or controversial ideas for your UTR guest blogging, please clear them with A3G in advance. Since it's her blog, A3G reserves the unfettered right to edit and even delete what you write -- but she doesn't expect to exercise it much, unless you go off the deep end.

Interested in guest blogging? If so, please email A3G (subject line: "Guest Editorship"), setting forth your qualifications for being an Article III rumor-mongerer. There's no deadline for this -- guest blogger applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.

Note: A3G realizes that some of you may fear adverse professional consequences from publicly trafficking in judicial gossip. So she's happy to allow both her intern and her guest editors to blog under pseudonyms (although she will need to know your true identity).

3. Sponsorship. As A3G mentioned over the weekend, she's now participating in the Google AdSense network. But she's interested in exploring a more profitable arrangement, perhaps with an advertiser that would agree to be UTR's sole and exclusive sponsor.

Although this blog is occasionally salacious, it does generate oodles of publicity (see the links collected in the UTR Press Book, in the left-hand column). If you might be interested in exploring an exclusive sponsorship arrangement, please email A3G (subject line: "Sponsorship").

4. Cross-posting. It's a common practice, engaged in by numerous bloggers who are affiliated with multiple blogs (e.g., Orin Kerr, of OrinKerr.com and the Volokh Conspiracy; Feddie, of Southern Appeal and Confirm Them). There's nothing wrong with it, and A3G will not apologize for it.

Accordingly, in order to provide UTR readers with as much colorful commentary about the federal judiciary as possible, A3G will sometimes cross-post. If you have some objection to the practice of cross-posting, then simply don't click on the proffered links.

Here are a few recent Wonkette posts that may be of interest to readers of this blog:

• The Roberts Court Is In Touch With Its Feelings
• Anna Nicole Smith: One Merry Widow
• Happy Birthday to Justice John Paul Stevens
• Scalia's "Proudest Thing"
• various posts about the "Fingergate" scandal involving Justice Scalia (here, here, here, and here).

Okay, that pretty much sums it up. Article 3 Groupie thanks you for your patience in reading through this lengthy post. She looks forward to working together with you, her beloved readers, on a new and more collaborative UTR.

So let's bang some gavels, swish some robes, and make some noise!

A Warm Welcome for UTR Search

In addition to the changes were outlined by Article III Groupie earlier this weekend, UTR now has a search feature. This is a capability that many of you have wanted for a long time, and A3G is happy to give you what you want. 

So now you can find out what A3G has previously said about your favorite federal judges. Just enter the judge's name in the search box, select the "underneaththeirrobes.blogs.com" option, and click "Google Search."

The search function is far from perfect, largely because Google doesn't seem to have indexed many individual UTR posts. It tends to pick up index pages as opposed to specific posts. So here's a searching tip: after the search pulls up a bunch of index pages, click on one of them. Then, after the index page has loaded -- which can take a while, since some of the index pages are huge -- do a "Find" (ctrl-F) for your desired search term.

HAPPY SEARCHING!

A Few Changes at UTR

These changes will be explained at greater length in a more detailed post. But for now, here are three new things about this blog that are worth noting:

1. Because A3G has her eye on a new Celine wallet, UTR is now part of the Google AdSense network. This explains why there are now "Sponsored Links" in the lower left- and right-hand columns of this blog -- in a tasteful shade of mint green, consistent with this blog's pink-and-green motif.

2. For those of you who are curious, UTR's SiteMeter traffic statistics are now public. You can check them out here.

3. Finally, UTR now has a tip jar, located in the upper left-hand column of the blog. If you like, you can buy A3G a drink by clicking on the little green "tip jar" rectangle.

Thanks for visiting!