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About a decade ago I started reading law blogs instead of the news. They're written for other lawyers, so they're well composed, often without excessive hyperb

About a decade ago I started reading law blogs instead of the news. They're written for other lawyers, so they're well composed, often without excessive hyperbole. The writing is far higher quality than typical journalism. They're actually informational in terms of describing the mechanisms behind power in our society. In terms of focus, if something is truly important there will always be a legal analysis. Celebrity fluff and nonsense about talking heads doesn't make the cut. Meaningful conflict and hard questions do.

SpringDrive 5y ago
Do you have any suggestions for blogs that you like? Would be interested in adding some to my info diet.
- throwaway09223 5y ago
  I used to mostly read on my commute and it's been a few years, but the most approachable is probably https://abovethelaw.com/ https://abovethelaw.com/. It has quite a bit of fluff and humor mixed in. Popehat is usually quite good, especially when there's some kind of nonsense narrative going around. Good debunking explainers https://www.popehat.com/ https://www.popehat.com/ Volokh conspiracy has very good analysis of current events as well: https://reason.com/volokh/ https://reason.com/volokh/ (was at WaPo, was independent before that. I haven't read it in a while) There's a lot of other really great stuff around as well, like the lw blog collection: https://www.lw.com/blogs https://www.lw.com/blogs
  - ceejayoz 5y ago
    Popehat's Twitter is a really good source for "is legal issue x actually a big deal?" sanity checks on breaking news. Sometimes it's "yes, this is actually quite big"; other times it's "this is a breathless depiction of something that happens 20 times a day and is entirely normal procedure".
- Mezzie 5y ago
  What types of news do you follow? Some suggestions are: - SCOTUSBlog - Law 360 - Bloomberg Law - ABA Journal News - Courthouse News The primary benefit to using legal sources for your news is that the legal news cycle does not match up with the 24 hour news cycle. For example, right now we're talking about SCOTUS's 2022-2023 case docket, and that doesn't even start until October. Also because lawyers like to cover their butts/believe in getting everything in writing, a lot of their back and forth is available to the public, which lets you get better context for arguments.
- harshitaneja 5y ago
  In India, Live Law is pretty good.
- terr-dav 5y ago
  Not a blog, but a (highly opinionated) podcast: https://www.fivefourpod.com/ https://www.fivefourpod.com/
tiahura 5y ago
If you're talking about Law 360 and similar sites for legal news, sure. If you're talking about political news, no. Some of the most hyperbolic, partisan, and bizarrely flawed takes on Trump, and the US political situation over the last 5 years, have come from lawyers. It's been embarrassing.
- boston_clone 5y ago
  A fair counterpoint: some of the most hyperbolic, partisan, and bizarrely flawed takes have come from Trump's own legal team (looking at you, Giuliani). But I'm sure we could find bits of embarrassment anywhere we look!
  - tiahura 5y ago
    The problem is one is appearing in Borat films and not taken seriously, the other is on the faculty at Harvard and writing op eds for the nyt.
deleted 5y ago
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SpringDrive 5y ago

Do you have any suggestions for blogs that you like? Would be interested in adding some to my info diet.

throwaway09223 5y ago
I used to mostly read on my commute and it's been a few years, but the most approachable is probably https://abovethelaw.com/ https://abovethelaw.com/. It has quite a bit of fluff and humor mixed in. Popehat is usually quite good, especially when there's some kind of nonsense narrative going around. Good debunking explainers https://www.popehat.com/ https://www.popehat.com/ Volokh conspiracy has very good analysis of current events as well: https://reason.com/volokh/ https://reason.com/volokh/ (was at WaPo, was independent before that. I haven't read it in a while) There's a lot of other really great stuff around as well, like the lw blog collection: https://www.lw.com/blogs https://www.lw.com/blogs
- ceejayoz 5y ago
  Popehat's Twitter is a really good source for "is legal issue x actually a big deal?" sanity checks on breaking news. Sometimes it's "yes, this is actually quite big"; other times it's "this is a breathless depiction of something that happens 20 times a day and is entirely normal procedure".
Mezzie 5y ago
What types of news do you follow? Some suggestions are: - SCOTUSBlog - Law 360 - Bloomberg Law - ABA Journal News - Courthouse News The primary benefit to using legal sources for your news is that the legal news cycle does not match up with the 24 hour news cycle. For example, right now we're talking about SCOTUS's 2022-2023 case docket, and that doesn't even start until October. Also because lawyers like to cover their butts/believe in getting everything in writing, a lot of their back and forth is available to the public, which lets you get better context for arguments.
harshitaneja 5y ago
In India, Live Law is pretty good.
terr-dav 5y ago
Not a blog, but a (highly opinionated) podcast: https://www.fivefourpod.com/ https://www.fivefourpod.com/

tiahura 5y ago

If you're talking about Law 360 and similar sites for legal news, sure. If you're talking about political news, no. Some of the most hyperbolic, partisan, and bizarrely flawed takes on Trump, and the US political situation over the last 5 years, have come from lawyers. It's been embarrassing.

boston_clone 5y ago
A fair counterpoint: some of the most hyperbolic, partisan, and bizarrely flawed takes have come from Trump's own legal team (looking at you, Giuliani). But I'm sure we could find bits of embarrassment anywhere we look!
- tiahura 5y ago
  The problem is one is appearing in Borat films and not taken seriously, the other is on the faculty at Harvard and writing op eds for the nyt.

deleted 5y ago

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