Tag: Earwigging on Internet Weblogs

Over the wire or under the wig

While I do not intend to write Blogwigging for Dummies, it is important to address the Judge Mills-said-what reaction and talk more about how blog comments could be considered ex parte.

There were two news stories reporting on the panel discussion on judicial ethics held earlier this week at the University of Mississippi School of Law – one in the Daily Mississippian and one that appeared later in the day in the the Oxford Eagle.

Panelist and folo moderator NMC provided additional confirmation in his comment to the blog’s post Earwiggers – Us?

In context, I think what Judge Mills meant is that he believes there is anonymous commentary out there that is written by people who have an ax to grind and are trying to persuade courts. Basically, he thinks some of the anonymous stuff comes from one side or the other, and thinks it’s improper for a side in a case to use blog commentary in that way.

Another making comment on the thread also wrote a post on his own blog that provides context for Judge Continue reading “Over the wire or under the wig”

Over the wire or under the wig

Give Judge Mills credit for redefining the meaning of a bug in the system with his comments on judicial ethics and earwigging on internet blogs – and letting us know he reads at least one blog.

Mills said if he doesn’t read the comments on a certain blog, someone in his office is bound to print it out and leave a copy on his desk.

Now, that comment not only caught my eye, it put a bug in my ear that started scratching when I read the story Sop posted yesterday – a bug to understand who in his office would copy blog posts and comments and leave them on his desk and why.

I found the answer – or at least one answer – in the Oxford Eagle story about the event.

“I know if something is said about someone local, and if I don’t read it, my clerk will make sure I see it,” Mills said. “It’s going to get copied and put on a judge’s desk. And I think people know that and I believe some write comments to influence the judges.

I suppose lawyer-people know that; but I’m not a lawyer. What I do know, however, is that Judge Mills and Judge Biggers have their offices in the Court’s Oxford office – where “local” means Scruggs, Lackey, Tollison and a host of others with various connections to USA v Scruggs. Continue reading “Over the wire or under the wig”