Welcome to my blog!

I am a lawyer admitted in Washington State. I am also a conservative. Those two categories are mostly, but not always, exclusive of one another.

I live in a suburb of Seattle and I have started this blog in order to post my thoughts regarding legal and political issues in the Greater Seattle area. Some issues are not necessarily limited to this region. Bioterrorism, for an extreme example, is an issue for every one else in the world as well.

My greatest insight, however, will be on legal issues. Unlike many (most) of my fellow attorneys, I have always felt that the purpose of the law is to resolve disputed issues in a manner that all parties accept as fair and even-handed.

For example, party A says that party B has wronged him in some way. In a society without law, party A's only recourse is to confront and possibly fight it out with party B. If party B is sufficiently more powerful that party A he can do what he wants. Too bad for the weaker party. This is the law of the jungle.

In a civilized society, however, party A contacts the authorities and seeks an independent determination (a judgment) that party B has, in fact, wronged him. If this independent party (the judge) agrees with party A then the broader society uses its superior power to make party B correct the wrong. If the judge does not agree with party A then party B is left alone. The key point is that neither party A nor party B has to take matters into their own hands.

Unfortunately, the law schools have been teaching that the purpose of the law is social justice. In this view of the law, the proper inquiry is not whether or not party B wronged party A, but which party is more "deserving" of society's assistance. It doesn't matter who is "right" in the rational sense, it matters who is "right" in the emotional sense.

Unfortunately the social justice theory of law leads to judges asserting their own preferences as "The Law." This fundamentally undermines democracy and the law.

Fortunately, our society does not have to accept this abuse of power. There are other mechanisms by which the abuse of law can be checked. One of the most fundamental is the right to speak out about it. Hence this blog.

Just as I am more than just an attorney, I intend to touch on more than just legal abuse in this blog. Stay tuned.

- posted by Thomas @ 12:14 PM