Welcome to Banging Her Own Gavel: UTR Navel-Gazing by A3G. As its title suggests, in this category Article III Groupie will offer her thoughts on, well, herself and her blog. Of course, A3G often shares with her readers self-indulgent commentary about herself in the course of discussing other topics, but "Banging Her Own Gavel" will focus on A3G and UTR to a particularly high degree. (For a definition of navel-gazing, please click here.)
Today's post will address two matters:
1. Article III Groupie's Identity. Regrettably, A3G cannot address any of the speculation concerning her identity, and she can offer no information on this topic other than what appears here. But she is deeply flattered, as well as amused, by the interest that some people appear to be taking in who she is (see, e.g., this post). Several readers have asked her out on dates, and some have requested, in response to UTR's contest to auction off dates with Supreme Court clerks, that Article III Groupie auction off a date with herself. Unfortunately, due to her aspirations to federal judicial diva-dom, A3G must keep her identity a secret. (And if you would like her to continue publishing UTR, please respect her privacy and refrain from making her identity a matter of public record. Instead, derive the private satisfaction of an insider from your knowledge about who she is.)
A3G is touched by all of the publicity and fan mail that she has received (which she encourages you to continue sending). But as one of the Great Unwashed, a term discussed in detail here, A3G is not worthy of such an avalanche of attention. Nor does she merit attention as the proprietress of "Underneath Their Robes." In this capacity, she is merely a public servant, bringing the Promethean fire of federal judicial gossip to a world shrouded in darkness about these judicial celebrities.
(Article III Groupie has, however, joined Friendster. Please feel free to become her "friend" for Friendster purposes. You can locate her by conducting a user search for her e-mail address, which is [email protected]. In her profile, A3G selected Lebanon, Kansas, as her location because it is the geographic center of the lower 48 states. The age provided in her profile is within a few years of her actual age.)
2. Procedural Improprieties in the Superhotties Voting. Article III Groupie takes the integrity of the voting in the Superhotties of the Federal Judiciary contest very seriously (as well she should, given what is at stake). She must therefore address the valid concerns of possible procedural improprieties raised by Howard Bashman of How Appealing. Mr. Bashman, incidentally, been a great friend of UTR, bringing the site to the attention of thousands of his readers, and A3G deeply admires him for his wonderful blawg, which is a great resource. Because of her respect for him, A3G feels compelled to respond to his concerns.
Concerning UTR's Hotties in the Holding Pen post, in which A3G listed various judicial nominees who were brought to her attention too late for inclusion in the voting, Mr. Bashman writes:
Really untimely nominees for the title of "Superhotties of the Federal Judiciary": Unlike Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski, who was given relief from the nomination deadline because he nominated himself, these other untimely nominees apparently didn't nominate themselves, and therefore you aren't allowed to vote for them. You can still read about them, however, in this post at the blog "Underneath Their Robes."
Article III Groupie must clarify the sequence of events for the benefit of her readers. In this post, on June 12, 2004, she announced the original nominations deadline of June 18, 2004. But then, in this post on June 19, 2004, A3G extended the nominations deadline indefinitely:
Due to the impositions of Article III Groupie's day job, which is requiring her to work on a Saturday night, UTR will be taking a slight hiatus. . . . In the meantime, please feel free to send in more nominations; the nomination period has been extended indefinitely (in part because of work, but in part because of a dearth of nominees on the male side; if you can think of any judicial hunks, please e-mail me).
On June 28, 2004, A3G published Judge Kozinski's self-nomination (which she had actually received several days earlier, on June 24, 2004). Because of the extension of the nomination period, as announced on June 19, 2004, Judge Kozinski's self-nomination was timely. A3G could have corrected Judge Kozinski about this, because in his self-nomination he requetsed relief from the filing deadline, but she thought it would be more amusing to leave in his humorous comments about the Ninth Circuit's loosey-goosey jurisprudence concerning deadlines.
When Article III Groupie published Judge Kozinski's self-nomination, she also announced, near the end of the post, a new nominations deadine of July 2, 2004. The judicial hottie nominees discussed in "Hotties in the Holding Pen" were all received after this new and final deadline of July 2, 2004. Thus, A3G did not show any favoritism towards Judge Kozinski by including him as a nominee while excluding the "hotties in the holding pen."
Article III Groupie apologizes for any confusion that her posts may have created concerning the nomination and voting deadlines, and she hopes that this post has clarified matters. She thanks her readers for all of their nominations and votes, and she looks forward to reporting the winners in the near future.
Sincerely,
Yes, would you respond to a 20 Questions interview by Bashman, Poon, me, or any other loyal readers/bloggers?
Posted by: Federalist No. 84 | July 18, 2004 at 11:12 PM
Can we at least have a question-and-answer session?
E.g., can you breakdance?
Posted by: Mr. P | July 18, 2004 at 10:37 PM