"Viewing Law Blogs as a Vast Amicus Brief"

Howard Bashman of How Appealing fame has this interesting article dated July 24, 2006 on Law.com:

What should judges do if, while visiting the legal blogosphere, they encounter discussions about how pending cases ought to be decided? .... With increasing regularity, the legal blogosphere generates these types of discussions of noteworthy pending cases, and it is not unusual for those discussions to include thoughtful recommendations about how a court should rule based on existing law and policy considerations. In such instances, the Internet can be regarded as a vast amicus brief through which legal experts who are otherwise unconnected to pending court cases may potentially influence their outcomes. ....

In my view, if the blog post is publicly available to anyone with Internet access, and if the blogger has not taken any steps other than publishing the post to draw it to the attention of the judges before whom a case is pending, then those judges are free to consider and rely on that information if they find it to be helpful. ....

We expect appellate courts to conduct their own legal research, beyond that presented by the parties, with the goal of reaching the most lawful and just outcomes possible. When the legal blogosphere offers assistance in the form of insightful commentary about pending cases from law professors and lawyers with particular expertise in the subject matter under consideration, a judge's consultation of those blog posts is, in my view, just another form of permissible legal research.

That is just what I think. After all, anyone can start up a blog and post their views for all the world (including judges) to see. Similarly, anyone can write a legal analysis article and submit it for publication in the Daily Journal or the Recorder or even a law review. Law blogs are just one more form of public legal commentary and I see no reason why judges should not read them. In fact, I have reason to believe that some judges and/or their research attorneys occasionally visit my own humble site.