Especially if you’re a prosecutor blogging under a fake name and making snarky comments about judges:
NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) — The author of a sassy blog about the federal judiciary, “Underneath Their Robes,” is no longer cloaked in mystery, and it turns out it’s a federal prosecutor.
The writer of the Web log, which had humorous references to judges as “hotties” and “babes,” purported to be a young, female lawyer who worked in San Francisco. But in an interview with The New Yorker magazine published this week the author identified himself as Assistant U.S. Attorney David Lat of Newark.
OOPS!
The blog was taken off line Monday in a “mutually agreed upon decision,” The Record of Bergen County reported Wednesday, citing an unidentified source. The site appeared to require a password to access it Wednesday.
Double OOPS…
Lat, one of about 100 assistants working under U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie, was still employed there Tuesday, office spokesman Michael Drewniak told the newspaper. He declined to comment further.
The blog contained sightings of different judges, including Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito Jr. going to Newark restaurant. It also had lists of “super hotties” and named “Sporty, Spicy Judges,” such as Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who threw out the first pitch before a Chicago Cubs game.
On the other hand, maybe these judges got a thrill about being called “hotties” and “babes” and Lat will start setting an incredible record of winning his cases…and the floodgates will begin as lawyers and prosecutors see a career boost in blogs detailing the “babe” factor in judges.
(People should blog under their real names or my name isn’t Jimmy Hoffa Joe Gandelman)
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.