Judge Walton's Footnoted snark

By Clarice Feldman

Last week I commented on what I called Judge Walton's snarky and intemperate footnote comments about the 12 professors who filed an amici brief in support of Libby's argument that the constitutional questions respecting Fitzgerald's appointment were substantial and warranted allowing him out to remain out on bond pending appeal. Here is what he wrote:

"It is an impressive show of public service when twelve prominent and distinguished current and former law professors of well-respected schools are able to amass their collective wisdom in the course of only several days to provide their legal expertise to the Court on behalf of a criminal defendant. The Court trusts that this is a reflection of these eminent academics' willingness in the future to step to the plate and provide like assistance in cases involving any of the numerous litigants, both in this Court and throughout the courts of our nation, who lack the financial means to fully and properly articulate the merits of their legal positions even in instances where failure to do so could result in monetary penalties, incarceration, or worse. The Court will certainly not hesitate to call for such assistance from these luminaries, as necessary in the interests of justice and equity, whenever similar questions arise in the cases that come before it."

A number of law professors have commented in a similar vein. Instapundit's professor Glenn Reynolds went further and said it made it seem as though the Judge was an"ass" and biased.

Professor Kmiec , one of those prominent professors who signed the amici brief, handled the offensive footnote more lightheartedly:

In an interview, Kmiec said he is "constitutionally grateful" that there have been so few prosecutors such as Fitzgerald who enjoyed "such unsupervised independence and that has been solely aimed at investigating a single incident of highly political origin and that has been so concentrated upon one person."

But the Malibu-based professor couldn't resist a quip himself.

"Judge Walton is right; we should be prepared to 'step up to the plate' to help criminal defendants nationwide," he said. "Boy, am I lucky to live in the same town as Paris Hilton."