Who Are You?

Tell us a bit yourselves, readers.

Happy new year, and hope you're enjoying our new home here at Reason! Tell us a bit about yourselves -- what you do, where you do it, when you started visiting us, and whatever else you'd like to say.

Comments

[John M. Aughenbaugh]

I am a college professor at VCU, in the Political Science Department. I have been visiting the Conspiracy a few months after it was created. I enjoy the site as the various contributors give me perspectives I typically do not receive where I work or at pretty much any other venue.

[Chris_Virginia]

Chris, living in Virginia although earlier lived in midwest & west coast.

Work in finance and started visiting/lurking shortly before VC moved to the Post, where I felt inclined to comment for the first time.

My wife (among others) has consistently suggested/teased that I should have been a lawyer. The topics on the VC have me wondering if I should pursue a law degree (even if the idea of even more additional schooling after already having a professional certification is unpleasant).

[Daniel Schmutter]

Well, I woke up in a Soho doorway and apparently a policeman knew my name. He said "You can go sleep at home tonight If you can get up and walk away."

I found that acceptable, so I staggered back to the underground, and the breeze blew back my hair. Really, the only thing I remember is throwing punches around and preaching from my chair.

I hope that's helpful.

Dan

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Hi, Dan.

[TWW]

"I hope that's helpful".

Dan. Don't talk to yourself!

[DaveM]

"Who are you?" /groan

[RickA]

Rick Arrett. I am a patent attorney living in Minnesota. I have followed the Volokh Conspiracy through three different websites, and enjoy reading the posts. I enjoy 2nd amendment issues, but really like all the constitutional stuff (1st amendment, 4th amendment and so forth). I have enjoyed the emoluments clause issues as well. I enjoy climate science, and look forward to climate science litigation issues in 2018. Hopefully the Mann vs. Steyn case will wrap up in 2018, and you guys can write about it.

Happy new year and looking forward to reading you in 2018!

[Careless]

Hopefully the Mann vs. Steyn case will wrap up in 2018

heh

[FlameCCT]

You definitely have high hopes. Speaking of which isn't there a song...

[MP]

Long time fan of the Conspiracy, dating back at least two blog generations prior to the WaPo migration. ConLaw hobbyist with no formal legal education. Career software developer in New England.

[Boris Yeltsin]

I am a military veteran currently working as an accountant while preparing for the LSAT. Seven or eight years ago, I was blackmailed by John L. Steele of Prenda Law. I had never been threatened with a lawsuit before, so I was doing some online research (trying to decide if I even want to respond to the letter), and thus discovered your blog.
I have been a regular reader ever since. I never miss a Short Circuit, and I read many other articles as well. While I do not completely agree with every author politically, it is especially refreshing to read a well-reasoned perspective when it's one which challenges your beliefs at least somewhat. I hope these years of reading will help a bit in law school. Thank you for all you do!

[Matt Clements]

I am an economics professor at St. Edward's University in Austin, TX. I started reading the blog several years ago, when another economist recommended it to me. I often share posts with my students, especially when I am teaching my Law & Economics course.

[SteveSc]

Database Admin, Phoenix AZ. Have read your stuff linked from instapundit for years, when you made the move, got an RSS feed for it.

[Al S]

Reader since the very beginning (or, at least, since Glenn R first linked to your blog back in 2003ish, the days when Prof Adler went by Juan Non-Volokh). Previously was a partner at a large law firm in NYC, now practice in house. Thanks for everything you write!

[Adam S.]

I'm a 36 year old attorney in Chattanooga, TN. My primary practice is representing investor-owned utility companies in eminent domain litigation, where a condemnor-municipality is attempting to take the private utility system to turn it into a municipally-owned system. I have read VC daily for about 7 years. I particularly enjoy articles about eminent domain, free exercise/church-state relations, and the 2nd Amendment.

[ToddR]

Indianapolis human resources guy. Firearms hobbiest, 1A topic enthusiast. Was first directed here by Walter Olson's Overlawyered.com about 5-6 years ago. Girlfriend is a career prosecutor; we both enjoy your weekly round-ups that include criminal justice system follies.

[Zennyfan]

I was an ink-stained wretch at several mid-metropolitan newspapers before ending up at the largest daily in the West. I made a mid-career change to the only profession that ranks lower than journalist and became a lawyer, practicing in California and Nevada (now retired). My passions are journalism and horse racing, but I squeeze in VC between visits to racing sites. I've been reading for about four years on and off, and daily for the last two years or so. Don't always agree, but I like to read opinions with other viewpoints, and so far VC hasn't touted a sure thing that finds a way to lose. Unless you count the 2016 election.

[Pettifogger]

I am a retired commercial real estate and business lawyer in San Antonio, Texas. I've been reading the blog since for many years, including when it had its own site and since well before I retired. For a while I was active in the local Tea Party. I unhappily voted for Donald Trump, though I'm not unhappy now.

[ducksalad]

Engineering professor, south Texas, reading for at least 10 years.

[Careless]

Freelance bum from Chicago, about to hit 10 years following the blog

[shortviking]

I'm no one.

[Eugene Volokh]

shortviking: Just don't poke my eye out with a wooden stake, please.

[Jerry B.]

Chortle.

[JordanW]

Game of Thrones reference?

[VinniUSMC]

Odysseus and Polyphemus.

[Eugene Volokh]

It's from the sequel to Game of Thrones 0.1.

[the original jack]

I was born a poor black child. I remember the days, sittin' on the porch with my family, singin' and dancin' down in Mississippi...

[Hey Skipper]

Twenty year Air Force veteran, mostly flying F-111s. Now a B757 Captain based in Germany for a major US airline.

I've been a lurker here for at least a decade.

This is the only place I know of where the comment thread can make me change my opinion. Occasionally a half dozen times on the same topic. (Arthur Kirkland excepted. He should lurk more. A lot more.)

[Jeff Walden]

Yeah, VC comment threads are great. Hopefully the move away from WaPo will improve them -- they took a little bit of a dive when that move happened. I can't immediately think of a case where a comment thread changed my mind, but they've certainly contributed to mind-changes and taught me stuff. Even if I can't identify an exact change due to comments, I can think of cases where my opinion on something's done a 180.

For example, when Herring v. United States was still at the cert stage at the Supreme Court 2009ish, I read the summary, thought Herring should lost, then was approximately gratified when he lost 5-4, conservative-ish justices against the liberal minority. (Not that I cared strongly about the issue, just happy to see the people in power had thought as I did.) Fast-forward almost nine years now, and somehow I've reached exactly the opposite opinion, think Leon's good-faith exception is a bit bonkers, and have not much idea how it is I could have thought Herring should lose before. Some of that, I'm certain, is due to all the posts and comments I've read here. (And elsewhere, my curiosity kindled by what I've read here.)

Thanks for all the wisdom, everyone. And all the not-quite-wisdom. 🙂 And for much entertainment and laughs too.

[Matt L]

I'm in-house counsel at a financial institution in Vancouver, Canada. I've been reading Volokh Conspiracy for a few years... can't remember exactly when I started. Even though as a Canadian the specifics of the legal issues discussed here don't always directly affect me, the general themes and principles still resonate and I find them useful in prompting me to evaluate my own opinions and my justifications for them.

[Jeb Loveless]

I'm a lawyer in private practice in Dallas, Texas. I started reading the blog before you hooked up with WaPo. Glad you got out from behind the paywall. I love reading about the First Amendment issues you cover, even though they aren't relevant to my practice.

[Brett Bellmore]

I'm a 58 year old mechanical engineer, currently living in South Carolina.

Per Google, my first comment at the Conspiracy was in September 2005. I don't recall what brought me there, probably a mention of the Conspiracy at another site. I stuck around because I find legal commentary interesting, particularly where it concerns civil liberties.

[Patrick Henry, the 2nd]

I'm a technology manager for web site in eastern PA. Been in the tech field for about 20 years.

Went to school for computer science, and took the LSAT and got accepted at a law school. I wanted to be an IP lawyer (even though ConLaw is my first love). Decided against it to due to financial and happiness concerns.

I've been a law enthusiast since high school, especially around liberty and justice. I found your site before the WaPo move, and been following since.

[Patrick Henry, the 2nd]

Forgot to mention, I'm anonymous because once on Twitter somebody disagreed with my stance on guns, and reported me to my employer hoping to get me fired. Luckily they failed. Ever since then, I only post about politics under this pseudonym because I have a family and livelihood to protect.

[FlameCCT]

I hear ya. Been doing the same for years. Although my old Combat Control Team mates know who I am by the pseudonym.

[Michael W. Towns]

I'm a mildly aging government contractor that just left military service. I live in a fairly large city in Georgia. I'm also about to graduate law school in May of this year. (I'm a 4L because I've been doing the part-time evening program.)

I've been following VC for the past few years and I find it indispensable. I have interest in First Amendment and Second Amendment issues, but my exposure to VC has broadened my legal interests considerably.

[Jeff_Kleppe]

Fancy running into you here.

[Drewski]

I'm an unemployed, unskilled laborer in Lincoln, Nebraska. I'm an Army vet and college dropout with a tendency to itinerance. (I probably won't be unemployed for too long. I just fell off the end of college football seasonal work.)

I became interested in law while temping for a Washington State administrative court. I found that a clearer understanding of the contours of law helped hone my political philosophy and better understand current events. Yours was the first law blog I followed, since somewhat before the WaPo move, and it has been enormously useful and often entertaining.

In short, I'm an incredibly boring guy whose idea of a good time is to get a pizza from the convenience store,* crack open a beer,** and try to get my fast-food-worker friends into a rousing discussion of adminstrative agency deference doctrines.

* When I came to Nebraska I mocked the very idea of convenience store pizza as a sort of Platonic anti-ideal version of the food. But Casey's General Stores pizza is better-than-mediocre and pretty cheap.

** I'm a beer snob, which I bring up only to note that my boringness is multifaceted, like a cardboard gemstone. I also enjoy trivia games, gardening, and reading in stony silence.

[Jerry B.]

Retired Civil Service (IRS, but mostly in IT). Card-carrying Libertarian and NRA member and past member of NORML. Opened the Post blog a few years ago and liked the civil liberties slant of the Conspiracy, so have followed it since then. Always something interesting, even if I don't always agree.

[CalArtian]

Music professor, conductor, dad, long-time reader of VC. No verbs apparently.

[CUNYProf]

I've been a constant reader for most of this century, commenting early on that the Conspiracy was then banned in Rangoon, where my wife and I had begun an educational rescue program under this era's longest running military dictatorship. After serving diligently as a certified political scientist (Yale PhD '61) at UCLA, Columbia, then CUNY I retired to be with grandchildren in The Bay Area. I currently conduct research on sex differences consequent upon the "Summers Heresy" of greater male variability.

[LRW]

I'm a patent examiner. I'm pretty sure I found VC by link surfing sometime around the migration to WaPo, but I don't remember.

I like pretty much everything about VC. I've been educated, enlightened, and challenged by it.

Keep up the good work.

[cmcc_aus]

retired from information technology and data mining. Libertarian leaning on most stuff. PhD in linguistics but didn't go into academics. Did a lot of analysis of market and behavioral correlations. Reading VC since before WaPo.

[Sequel]

I'm a newly retired IT guy, and a fan of the Conspiracy for years. I've been a Con Law fan since taking 2 undergrad courses decades ago while majoring in Poli Sci, and really enjoy reading seriously divergent viewpoints.

Contributors like Somin, Kerr, Adler, Barnett, Post, Sasha, and Eugene, are wonderful to read, and probably keep me permanently uncommitted to either right or left, tho I occasionally stray far from the center into both.

[Drew C]

30 year practicing attorney in southwest; rarely encounter constitutional issues in practice; enjoy the respectful, academic treatment of a variety of issues; regular reader when VC was independent but slowly lost track as WaPo paywall got harder to work around; thrilled to see you at Reason.

[apedad]

Retired AFOSI special agent (specialized in counterintelligence) and lived in Germany/Europe for 24 years. Now am a defense contractor security officer in the State of Northern Virginia. I appreciate the legal insights and various viewpoints.

[NToJ]

This guy is obviously a CIA agent.

[Eugene Volokh]

Well, I am a Russian.

[FlameCCT]

We really need a like button. ROTFLMAO with EV and NToJ!

[Goju]

And I'm a grinnin'. H/T Hee Haw

[airforce]

Retired military, retired corrections officer, administrator at http://www.awrm.org, and a former national delegate for the Libertarian Party. I've been following VC for years, and I'm thrilled with your move to reason.

[JordanW]

Programmer from Illinois (disguised photo)

[FlameCCT]

Tandem jump! How high?

[tkamenick]

37-year old attorney, former music teacher. Currently working for a public interest law firm that leans conservative/libertarian. Been reading VC since law school in 2006. Glad for your move to Reason but I miss the ignore user button. Too many trolls followed for my tastes.

[ThanksForTheFish]

Are you sure they followed VC? There were quiet a few homegrown here to begin with.

[TWW]

T.W. Wren. I am an attorney and CPA. I am also a Vietnam veteran (1970 Phu Bai) I am now retired, but previously was CFO of three public companies and General Counsel of one.

[KBK]

45 year old engineer and consultant in metro-Atlanta. I've been reading the Conspiracy for a bit over 10 years. My interest in law is purely as a citizen - I find it fascinating. The academic, thoughtful treatment of a variety of topics, particularly civil liberties law, keeps me coming back.

[DEHuntley]

I'm an immigration lawyer at my own firm in the Boston area. I work primarily on the business side of immigration, working with companies, investors and entrepreneurs. I also sue the federal government on behalf of my clients for unfair denials, delays and record production under FOIA. I've been reading VC since law school before your move to the Washington Post.

I'm heavily involved in free market promoting organizations in Massachusetts.

[Gimlet0153]

In-house counsel focusing on contracts and compliance, working on the West Coast for a fintech company. I have been a reader since my law-school days (Class of 2002). I've lived in 4 different metro areas as a reader of the VC, and have played fantasy football with Prof. Adler in the past. Good luck to the Eagles (my teams are out).

[Gimlet0153]

Maybe it was just after law school - I just checked the archives and I could only see them going back to 2004... time flies.

[Eugene Volokh]

The blog started up in April 2002; there are separate archives for 2002-04 -- reminds me that I should make sure we link to them somewhere.

[Mike W.]

I'm a retired scientist. I'm pretty sure I've been reading the VC pretty regularly since I first started reading blogs in 2004 (I remember the year because I first discovered the utility of blogs during the whole Rathergate thing) . Probably initially found you from Instapundit links. My local paper has a deal with the WaPo, so I had no problem with access during the WaPo period -- though I might have considered signing up with them to be able to see the VC.

[Mike W.]

Probably doesn't matter, but I meant to say that I almost never comment, and don't read the comments very much. Occasionally, if a post is especially interesting, I will read the comments for additional information and commentary.

[DennisR]

I'm a recovering academic, a retired law prof with a continuing non-professional interest in Con Law issues. I've been following the Conspiracy since close to the start. In addition to the usual topics, I enjoy the occasional diversions that Conspirators, especially Eugene, occasionally take.

[NToJ]

Construction lawyer in Texas. Mid-30s. Been reading Volokh for a decade. I read (and mostly like) all the contributors, but Eugene Volokh and Orin Kerr are my favorites. I gravitate primarily to the 1A and 4A threads.

My favorite commenter is DMN, even though it is apparent that I do not agree with him politically.

[David Nieporent]

Coincidentally, my favorite commenter is DMN too.

And I don't think we're as far apart politically as all that. (Er, that is, I don't think NToJ and I are as far apart politically as all that; I'm very far apart politically from DMN.)

[mydisplayname]

I'm old and gray, enjoy reading and thinking, and always enjoy being told I'm wrong. So this is the perfect blog!

As a youth, I was told I was wrong to participate in 4-H club events, because only future farmers do such things. As a very young speechwriter, using a 4-H scholarship to pay for college, I was told I was wrong to lend my assistance to a right-wing conservative minister. As a computer scientist, using my speechwriting income to fund my business, I was told I was wrong to even think about web-based electronic mail and other frivolous fads. As a law student, I was told I was wasting my time, as such skills wouldn't affect my business. As a university administrator, I was told I was wrong to implement Ethernet in dorm rooms, for who but a scientist would ever need anything more than a 9600 baud modem? And as a blog comment-er, I was told I was wrong when I wrote that Obamacare must be lawful, for it is nothing more than a tax.

I'm old and gray... but not too much. Jenny Joseph penned the best description (see https://www.barbados.org/poetry/wheniam.htm ).

[And to Drewski: I am an investor in CASY, so keep buying that pizza which "is better-than-mediocre and pretty cheap."]

[Drewski]

Funny coincidence: I'm also an investor in Casey's, although by "investor" I mean I buy a lottery ticket once each year, and by "in" I mean I do this inside the physical store. But here's a little insider tip: Bob is buying Saturday, and he likes pepperoni -and- bacon so expect a bump when the market opens Monday.

[bernard11]

Retired (mostly) business guy, almost entirely with small companies. MBA, dissertationless doctoral work and a bit of teaching in finance.

I've been around here a long time.

[JoeGoins]

That dissertation is a drag. I spent three years writing mine, and I had to revise it twice. Never thought my committee would accept it...

[bernard11]

Yeah. I sort of regret it, but after some time came to the conclusion that I didn't want to spend the time on it. I was a lousy teacher, besides.

Still, it was a worthwhile few years of classes and stuff. I enjoyed it, learned a lot.

[A_Lior]

I'm an Israeli mathematician working at a North American university. I've been reading since 2003 or 2004 as I became more and more interested in US Constitutional Law.

I enjoyed the comment threads on the original website and tolerated Disqus, but I've practically stopped commenting since since the move to the WaPo so I'm very happy with the new home and look forward to participated in the comment threads again.

[RealistLiberal]

I'm a 35 year old lawyer in the Bay Area of California, moderately liberal by Bay Area standards, probably raging lefty by Midwest and Southern standards. I've been reading VC since 2006 as a 1L. I was initially drawn to what was, at the time, a very diverse and thoughtful commentariat across the spectrum (think DMN and NToJ) and learned quite a bit from the comments (seriously, where else on the Internet can anyone say that with a straight face?). Gradually moved away during the WaPo years because of the ever increasing paywall and the dramatic shift in commenters (as trolls of all stripes crawled out of woodwork of WaPo). Glad you're on Reason and hoping to start re-engaging in the comments section.

[The Drill SGT]

67 yo Vietnam vet. Regular Army Combat Arms, MBA (UCLA/UCI). Now working as a senior exec in a DC based consulting firm. Been reading VC since 2004 or so. I think Instapundit was the initial connection.

[UVaGrad]

I'm an attorney in Los Angeles who's been reading the VC since 2004 or so.

[Sarcastr0]

Physics->law->science policy (or close to it).
Born and raised in NY, I live in Washington DC after a stint schooling in California.

Started reading in 2005 (law school, natch). Started commenting in 2009, give or take. My initial screen name was Zombie Richard Feynmann.

[David Bremer]

I'm a practicing civil litigator in Minneapolis, Minnesota (writing under a pseudonym). I started reading the blog regularly in about 2003, when I was still a law student.

I grew up poor to a single mother in a small town, where I developed a healthy distrust of government busybodies. But I also have a lot of sympathy for poor people, who often try to make a go of it, but are stymied by liberal do-gooders who try to manage their decisions. Part of respecting people means respecting their right to make bad decisions.

And I'm probably the only person who misses WaPo (which I could access thanks to a university email account). At least there I could sort though to find quality, substantive comments without having to scroll through dozens of trolling screeds, often with a sprinkling of covert (and sometimes overt) racist comments.

[Eugene Volokh]

David Bremer: I should note that, regrettably, the Post apparently no longer offers free subscriptions to .edu users.

[JoeGoins]

You aren't the only one who misses WaPo. The articles on the rest of Reason aren't as intellectually rigorous as I would hope for from a libertarian website.

[VinniUSMC]

As opposed to the intellectually rigorous articles of the WaPo?

[JoeGoins]

The argumentation at WaPo was better than it is here. Additionally, I was never told to "eat shit" by a commenter in my two years of readership at WaPo.

[Goju]

Just to provide a little balance to all the law abiding posters, I served 13 years in prison - mostly in max security, for various crimes. Became interested in criminal law while incarcerated (Surprise, right?). Came to the Conspiracy around 2006 or so.

This is not an attempt at humor. It is true.

[NToJ]

What sorts of crimes?

[AJ_Liberty]

What, are you hiring?

[JoeGoins]

"What, are you hiring?"
Best. Comment. Ever.

(Sorry for your misfortunes, Goju.)

[Goju]

Not misfortunes. Bad choices made of my own free will.

[letters2mary]

Agreed. (No upvote button here, have no idea why, so I must improvise by using...words.)

[NToJ]

Is this or is this not a conspiracy?

[Goju]

Armed Robbery, armed auto theft, battery to police officers, burglary. Those are just the convictions. Was also involved in numerous other felonies. Started in about 66 or 67. Stopped in 82.

[letters2mary]

On first reading, I thought you were referencing your age, thinking, "well, he quit just in time!"

[FlameCCT]

You may have run into my brother on the other side if it was in GA. 😉

[Goju]

All time served in WI.

[JoeGoins]

I graduated from Stanford in 1997 with double majors in both economics and international relations. Luckily, I got a job with the Defense Intelligence Agency right out of college that enabled me to see and do things that many people will never experience. In 2007, the government funded me to get a doctorate from Georgetown. I recently retired from that job, but I got a new job teaching at the National Intelligence University.

[JoeGoins]

I started following the Conspiracy in 2014 when I read an article by Ilya Somin about justifications for the air war against ISIS.. I stick around for the security policy and Second Amendment articles.

[ToddR]

Did you ever work with a guy named, Jason Borne?

[JoeGoins]

The best assignment I had was working at the embassy in Beijing. Too bad the Chinese food is better here. (And it really is).

[Arkay9666]

Retired Army counterintelligence special agent. Stumbled over you around 2003 or so and hung around. Through your site, I can continue to have deep philosophical "conversations" over Constitutional issues, without putting Spousal Unit into a drooling comatose state.

And I can keep tabs on those OSI guys here, too....

[FlameCCT]

LOL. Geez, is it because those OSI guys are legs?

[JeffreyL]

My name is Jeffrey Levin. I am a partner at small CPA firm in the suburbs of Chicago. Just wanted to say i very much appreciate you moving to reason and for all the work you do. TYVM.

[FlameCCT]

Flame was a moniker bestowed on me as a very young Combat Controller hence FlameCCT.
I'm a Jack of All Trades, Master of Some! From SpecOps and IG in the military then NASA X-38 project; independent contractor for a while then IT with a medium city.

Been lurking and commenting since about 2009, near as I can recall. Enjoy the insight from both the Conspirators as well as the Comments.

[RHD]

I am an attorney in NYC, former AUSA, former big firm associate, practicing in a firm I started with two other former AUSAs in 1983. Mostly doing commercial litigation, but take on a criminal appellate matter every so often. Reading your blog for many years, and occasionally comment. Much better now that you're not behind the WaPo paywall.

[Colin Fraizer]

I am Colin Fraizer, a software developer in Indianapolis, Indiana, US.

I have been a fairly regular reader of the Volokh Conspiracy since, I think, its early days.

[Ethanwb]

I'm an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, and I've followed the Conspiracy for about five years. I mostly follow to read up on contributors' work with regard to free speech and the separation of powers, both areas of my practice.

[TNSteve]

mid 50s libertarian (m/l) retired litig. atty from blue collar background. Career path of Big Law, academia while child-rearing, small lit boutique..... Moved South during those years.

Was reading the conspiracy daily well before you went to WaPo. Probably Instapundit link... My one son and daughter-in-law are readers as well (IRS Int'l law, and NYC Mega-Law).

[Zoomie]

Information Security guy from Nebraska. Started following the Conspiracy years ago (before WSJ move) at the encouragement of a security guy with a JD - talk about your weird combinations of education and professional employment....

[Nigel Kearney]

From Wellington, New Zealand. Have been reading the VC since 2002, more now that I don't have to hit Ctrl-A then Ctrl-C really fast. I have a law degree but never practised and now work in IT.

Favourite topics are anything historical or legal theory or free speech. Also the Short Circuit posts. Least favourite ones are repeated posts on the same issue without anything new to say, that start to become more political advocacy than enlightenment. Some of the guest posts I have also found to be either obscure or not persuasive.

[Robert]

Was that some kind of Disqus trick?

[Purple Martin]

That's select everything, then copy everything to clipboard. Then can paste into a text editor or word processor to read at your leisure.

[Paul McKaskle]

I am a retired law professor and while my bread and butter courses were Evidence and Civil Procedure I also often taught a course in Comparative Civil Liberties contrasting Europe and the U.S. approaches to free speech and privacy. (Europe is getting increasingly unfriendly towards free speech.) Legislative redistricting is also a specialty of mine.

I've been reading VC since the Juan non-Volokh days and at my advanced age I can't remember precisely what date that was.

[susancol]

Former research biochemist until I made a dramatic switch to law school in '85. Commercial litigation for several years, followed by 20 years in-house with major state university handling all matters related to the college of medicine (including its 700+ physician practice) and 5 other health-related colleges. Now assistant professor/assistant dean in new medical school . . . Libertarian. 2nd Amendment advocate (Eugene met my husband at a 2nd Amendment conference in Orlando--Bob was the guy who couldn't go into the bar, due to FL's carry restrictions)

[Ike B.]

My first comment on a Conspiracy post was on March 24, 2012; David Bernstein wondered whether the federal government could compel children to attend school.

I was an industrial designer in the defense industry before (and then while) I went to law school, then found myself doing business in China, then Germany, then the Netherlands, and now California. Not sure what else to say except that I passed the CA bar exam the same day Orin Kerr did, so basically that makes us family.

[DjDiverDan]

How much do you want to know? Because I am capable of rambling a long time.

I'm a 63 (soon to be 64) year old attorney in Texas, graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, 1982, also have an MBA. Former member of Mensa and Triple Nine Society, econ geek, a strong believer that Keynes was a dangerous fraud, that Hayek and Hazlitt were right about Keynes. Enthusiastic Scuba Diver, hope to retire to Cozumel Mexico, hope to be able to meet and talk to Robert Higgs down in the Yucatan. Avid follower of Cafe Hayek, Econlog, How Appealing, and ScotusBlog. I have been following Volokh Conspiracy for several years - can't remember exactly how long, but for at least a few years before it went to WaPo. Long, long ago, I self-identified as conservative, even to the point of voting for Nixon in 1972. Have identified as libertarian for at least 30 years, since reading Hayek's Why I am Not a Conservative.

[BadLib]

Retired 60ish Software Developer here.

I've been reading VC since at least Oct 2003 (that's the first email I can find in which I forwarded a link to VC). I probably wouldn't have become aware of the blog for quite some time if I hadn't noticed Eugene's name associated with it and remembered being very impressed with Eugene when I met him sometime before he entered law school.

I thought about becoming a lawyer mid-career, but I was pretty sure I'd take a big pay cut (in addition to the educational costs - both tuition and opportunity loss) as I'm not the type of person suited for Big Law.

Politically, I consider myself a "bad libertarian" because my beliefs are probably closer to libertarian than any other mainstream political group. However, "True" Libertarians generally think I'm a communist, liberals think I'm a right wing nut case, conservatives think I'm amoral, and progressives think I'm heartless (all, by the way, are wrong in their assessments).

I'm a strong supporter of the Second Amendment because it is there in clear text and shouldn't be treated as if it were written in invisible ink as it was for many decades -- that alone is enough reason to defend it vigorously lest other more important aspects of the Constitution fall victim to the same treatment.

Last, I'm thankful that in 2018 I will no longer have to circumvent the WP paywall - thanks. (I'm not thankful for the 1500 character limit on comments though).

[Argon24]

60ish health care professional. Grew up in California but went to Emory University for Undergrad as Berkeley et al. here in California were still in Crazy 60's mode. Best decision i ever made and ended up staying at Emory for Grad school. BTW: Alex, thanks for making me proud that Emory is a FIRE school and has at least resisted the recent SJW / anti-free speech movement. Eugene: i did post-grad at UCLA: I think they have capitulated to the crazies--- which is sad. Enjoy your inside-baseball on the law for us who are not stupid, and never went to law school. Regards

[Josh R]

I am a retired engineer who worked for Bell/AT&T Labs for 30 years. I think I have read and posted on the Conspiracy for at least 10 years.

[PopsHobby]

I was tossed out of the newspaper game in 2007 at 57 and 31 years at a small, upstate New York daily. No regrets, it was a wonderful ride. Now I'm an usher at a minor-league baseball stadium. I work for the US Census bureau asking around 18 households a month about their experiences with crime, and I edit papers for engineering professors before they submit them for publication.
While at the paper, my day was always filled with surprises. I like it that way and have managed to find things that interest me in my dotage. So all is good.
I tell people that I did not vote against Clinton or against Trump. I voted for Johnson. I'm a libertarian who has been looking at Reason and the Conspiracy for years. I am continually amazed that people do not value freedom as a good as important as health, education, and success.
I talk politics on Facebook all the time with a group of people who have widely different opinions, but they are mostly polite. They challenge my opinions and force me to learn. To quote a horrible rock n roll song, Life has been good to me so far.

[caryatis]

Wow, 103 comments and only one identifiable woman? Anyway, I'm a young female lawyer for the federal government. Big fan of the First Amendment. My favorite posts are the Short Circuit ones.

[Careless]

One of the first two Reason rules is: TINSTAAFL

[Careless]

(for the record, that's "a female libertarian")

[FlameCCT]

I thought that was TANSTAAFL (ain't instead of isn't)?

[Grichard]

Well, the large majority of these comments have no way to identify gender, in fairness.

[Robert]

Single poor underemployed biochemist, adjunct teaching & consulting, proof & copy edit Bob Blumetti's stuff, instructional for (Church of) Balder Rising ( vrilology.org ) & his fiction. Coach children in Amer. football & make fireworks. No longer enjoy football as mere spectator, used to play rugby. US pat. 5,336,446 compos, mostly as bubble bath, fun but flopped in market. Working on solving friend Damon Lindelof's TV serial, Lost; seems I'm the only viewer very close to sol'n, even then only because of things we'd shared in the past; see http://users.bestweb.net/~robgood/teach . Love other people's dogs, cats, & children.

Live in rural Andover, NJ since 15 mos. ago after lifetime in Bronx minus few yrs. in the late 1970s as med student in Chi. Moved out of need, also to be closer to pagan & libertarian friends & gain space for fireworking, & to help a FOAF who had health problems, became my co-tenant, & died last mo., plug pulled prematurely by his paralegal daughter who had power of att'y. He shared my love of WFMU; I listen to a lot of radio & stream, lately including Dark Matter Digital Network. Haven't plugged in a TV in yrs. Last show watched besides Lost was Andy Breckman's Monk, but I enjoy "7 Sec. Delay" on WFMU, co-hosted by Andy & Ken (stn. mgr.).

Side benefit of moving out of Bronx: left politics behind. Quit Libertarian Party 15 yrs. ago but stayed active in Conservative Party w/o real enjoyment. Looking to get back into table gaming more.

[Tempe Jeff]

I work in Manufacturing here, in Arizona. I started visiting your website about 2009. I even sent you one, or two tidbits from Michigan. 'Seducing an unmarried woman' and, the 'cussing canoeist' case. I love your work and support your efforts.

[Craig Johnston]

I'm a semi-retired software professional in central Texas. I found the Conspiracy a short time before the Heller decision and I've been an avid follower ever since.

[PoxOnBothYourHouses]

I stumbled on VC only 2-3 years ago at the Washington Post. I mainly lurk, occasionally comment, /very/ occasionally get involved in extended discussion or debate. I miss the 'like' button.One of my favorite things was going through the comments and up-voting those that were thoughtful or provided interesting information, even if -- maybe especially if -- I disagreed with the writer. People need to know folks listen to them.

Me. I'm a retired sociologist who still researches the historical demography of violence. I didn't leave sociology; it left me. 25 years at a state university in South Carolina led me to conclude the South isn't so bad. Four years in Maryland and Northern Virginia led me to conclude that the folks there have /no/ idea how controlled their lives are. I comment at other sites using my real name. I'd do it here, but I kind of like the Mercutio quote (even if the original is "A plague o' both your houses"), because I'm torn between positions I can't accept. My exception is the First Amendment, on which I'm firm.

[apedad]

You're 100% correct about the people here in NoVA. Absolutely clueless. The job moved me here about nine years ago and I can't wait to leave.

[PoxOnBothYourHouses]

Nice to know I'm not the only one to notice. The worst place (IMO) is Columbia, MD, which I always thought should be called "Stepford."

[The Other Bob M]

I've been reading VC off and on for several years, even prior to WaPo.

I'm currently a writer, although I've been a cop, soldier, IT guy, pizza guy, pipe brazer, and funeral escort, among other things. I'm basically a conservative-leaning libertarian (or vice versa - even I'm not sure at times). Raised in the Midwest, and now living in Green Country.

[Pride and Prejudice Prong]

My memory may be playing tricks on me but I'm sure I first came across the blog prior to law school, when I was reading everything I could on Harry Potter in the leadup to Deathly Hallow's release, including David Kopel's Severus Snape articles. I started law school right around that time, and kept right on reading.

I'm currently a state appellate law clerk and I don't doubt that my enjoyment of the appellate blogsphere--is that term still used?--played a part in my landing spot. I had another career before law school and was comfortable with my decision to go back to school, but my enjoyment of this and related sites reaffirmed my decision.

[gpm]

Am posting way more info than anyone ever should on the Internet, where it would probably take about five seconds to find out my identity and a lot more. But *they* probably know anyway.

Tax/estate planning lawyer/something of a general practitioner at a big (originally Boston-based) law firm and its now (sort of) successor since the late 70s. Grew up on the South Side of Chicago, where I still have millions of relatives (in the area, but no longer on the South Side or even in the city), and went to Ignatius before attending college and law school "near Boston" (if you know what I mean). Have lived in the Fenway since 1980. Just reached the "will you still need me/will you still feed me" stage last month.

Stumbled on VC maybe ten years ago, either via Althouse (still visiting regularly) or Instapundit (not). I think I've commented a couple of times, probably on math or language stuff or the like.

Randy B. (who's largely disappeared?) is more or less exactly of the same origin/vintage, but a North Sider. Probably a Cubs fan, sigh, if he even cares (which I really don't any more, but can't deny my South Side/White Sox heritage).

Love Eugene and Sasha's stuff. Ilya's been a bit too much TDS for the last year or so. The rest don't make as much of an impression.

--gpm

[jsfreason]

Economist expert witness, 61. This is my fourth moniker, so I go back quite some time, back to the Juan Non-Volokh and even Tyler Cowen days. Keep up the good work.

[William.Talos]

40 year old former Hill and think tank staffer now working in strategic planning for a large health system. Reader since ~ 2004.

Still interested in con law especially Commerce Clause, 1st Amdt free speech, Establishment, and Free Exercise, Preemption. Enjoy the quality of writing and research. Appreciate the perspectives and insights of the conspirators. Like the depth and breadth of subjects.

[William.Talos]

Also, bon vivant and raconteur.

[InjuryPsych]

I'm a clinical psychologist in CA. I handle work injuries like shootings, stabbings, murder, terrorist attacks, and garden variety stress claims. I just started reading this blog after finding it on the top 50 conservative blogs list.
Someday I might write a longer article about how cop pensions are ruining the State of California.

[California Dreamer]

I graduated from UCLA Law School the year after Stewart Baker. Spent 9 years as a deputy public defender, then 31 years as a judicial staff attorney at the California Supreme Court. Retired from the court a few months ago.

[[e-mail]]

I'm a baseball writer/analyst and was introduced to the Volokh Conspiracy by a couple of baseball nerds back in, I believe, 2003 or 2004 (one was Matt Welch who I still associate first as being an Angels blogger).

[InjuryPsych]

So, Angels are 40:1 odds. Are you buying that?

[Pride and Prejudice Prong]

Dan developed the ZiPS projection system, which is available at Fangraphs.com. the 2018 projections are being released over the offseason, but Angels aren't out yet.

I'm used to Dan appearing at Bucs Dugout when his name is mentioned so maybe the same applies here and he will give a sneak preview!

[[e-mail]]

A Volokh comment thread would at the least, be an unusual place to sneak a preview.

[Pride and Prejudice Prong]

Yeah, I wasnt serious 🙂

[InjuryPsych]

Go ahead, give it a try. I can plead that I'm new around here. I've heard that's a good defense

[[e-mail]]

It's not unjustified. At my last run, I had them about 3.1%, so I'm not sure there's enough profit there, but it's less crazy than most WS probs (they're generally a bad bet, straight up props are better).

[Bill R]

I'm a software engineer specializing in computer security. I started reading groklaw.net long, long ago and got hooked on the intersection of legal and technical issues. I found the Volokh Conspiracy when groklaw shut down, and have been lurking and following it across three web homes so far. I'm very glad to see it on a non-paywalled site again.

[n_pro]

I'm an attorney. Before that, I led a public policy group based on Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. I've followed the Conspiracy since '02. I bought several contributors to my law school when I was our campus FedSoc president.

[NToJ]

"I bought several contributors..."

The truth comes out! I knew Volokh was just a mercenary for FedSec.

[n_pro]

Yup. The hive mind does what the hive mind must.

[n_pro]

Yup. The hive mind does what the hive mind must.

[Larry Sheldon]

I am a nobody. A long out-of-work nobody. (I used to be somebody but nobody cares any more)

I read lots of stuff, including stuff by and about lawyers and laws.

[Lee Moore]

I identify as a United States Supreme Court Justice and a hermaphrodite.

[apedad]

You're Ted Cruz?

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Couldn't be. If Sen. Cruz had any male content, the incident involving Donald Trump and Heidi Cruz would have turned out far differently.

[MikeStarrWriter]

My name is Mike Starr and I'm a technical writer (both contract and freelance) living about halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. I've been following the Volokh Conspiracy for many years, well before the switch to the Washington Post. I don't recall how I first encountered it but suspect it might have been via a link from 3QuarksDaily.

I have developed a fascination with Constitutional law and especially enjoy the discussions of Supreme Court cases. Being a seasoned writer, I'm impressed with the writing of the contributors and the amount of effort they put into their articles. I seldom browse the comments but if I do, I almost never add a comment.

For the most part, I consider myself a libertarian but sometimes I'm more liberal and other times I'm more conservative. My perspective is that while I was married, my wife and I never agreed 100%. If one cannot agree 100% with someone he loves, it's normal not to agree 100% with any particular political philosophy. I do make a fairly determined effort to keep myself informed about political positions from other perspectives and have found that I have sometimes changed my own position as a result.

[DaveM]

"If one cannot agree 100% with someone he loves, it's normal not to agree 100% with any particular political philosophy."

Amen.

[PeteRR]

I am a retired millwright at 54. That retirement came as a result of an almost fatal industrial accident in 2013. I've been reading VC since well before the WaPocalypse. I'm living in Houston now, but I've lived and worked all over the ConUS.

I read VC so as to gain insight into legal matters that is more than the 1" deep analysis provided by the daily media.

I appreciate Reason hosting you and I've been a libertarian since college (where I was an anarchist).

[Doug Huffman]

Retired 1995 federal nuclear engineering technician. Took up pro-gun activism (how I found Professor Volokh), long distance cycling, citizen involvement in policing, civic activism elected to council.

The gun rights conflict has faded and been cut in to fiefdoms practicing rice-bowl politics, but I still come here to VC to read intelligent opinion and comment. I occasionally discover book recommendations here.

Thanks Eugene Volokh for all that you do.

[Abby W Schachter]

I'm a writer/journalist. Author of "No Child Left Alone: Getting the government out of parenting" (2016, Encounter). Long time reader since before WP days. As a fellow Reason contributor, I am so happy you've made the switch.

[Careless]

Your publisher should be kicked in the shins for the ebook pricing of your book.

[Andy Lusk]

I'm a litigation and employment lawyer working in-house for a financial services company in Detroit, Michigan. I first started reading the VC about 2005. My favorite Conspirators are generally non-partisan (and even a little non-ideological) and have a clear and concise writing style. Thanks for all the work and dedication that has gone into making the VC worth visiting over the years.

[DaveM]

I am a software architect by trade, hymn writer, friend to interesting people regardless of age or station, and emergency tenor.

In one of the internet start-ups I worked on, we had an attorney as our CEO (we were building a chain-of-custody system for digital chattel paper). I learned then that lawyers are trained to find holes and work-arounds, not to build new things. So, it was a bit of a disaster.

I've been a long-time reader of the Conspiracy, mainly because 1) I like serious discussions by serious people, and 2) I'm still trying to understand how lawyers think.

Thank you for this blog!

[Paladin_44]

Semi-retired chemist/toxicologist. IANAL but I enjoy reading the blog on a regular basis. Came upon it while doing defense testimony in product liability/failure to warn cases. Find Rev. Arthur amusing and like the Roundup feature. Miss the "like" button. Thanks for keeping this going, Eugene.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

I amuse you?

Amuse you how?

[Paladin_44]

Perfect, Rev, Perfect.

[Smooth Like a Rhapsody]

53 yr old lawyer. Lifetime resident of the state of Indiana.

[jadem3070]

Just a simple, middle-aged engineer working for a defense contractor in Southern California. No legal experience, but I am fascinated by the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments, viewed from a libertarian perspective.

I first heard Prof. Volokh on KABC radio in the (early?) 90's as a frequent guest of the Larry Elder Show. Found the Volokh Conspiracy Blog a few years before the move to WaPo and have have been happily lurking ever since.

[loki13]

I'm a Nic Cage aficionado.

[Careless]

Good or bad?

[Eugene Volokh]

Little-known fact: Nick Cage was a high school classmate of mine; we were in beginning journalism together at Beverly Hills High School, 1978-79.

[MonitorsMost]

Is that you eating a sandwich on the beach with him?
https://youtu.be/_9iN5oo1X6c

[loki13]

I knew there was a reason I kept coming back to the VC. 🙂

[JoeGoins]

@EugeneVolokh ? "Nick Cage was a high school classmate of mine..." How many years were you in high school? Just the one?

[MonitorsMost]

What are you going to do now without the Bees avatar?

[House Hill]

First time, long time. 39 year old in-house American lawyer in Bermuda. Have been reading the VC off and on since mid-aughts -- whenever I discovered, as a law student, that Professor Kerr joined up. Despite my lefty leanings, I enjoy the blog (most of the time -- I find some of the navel gazing university/academic rants to be a bore). Keep it up.

[tomploszaj]

65yo retired. Married/grankids. Newbie via VC move to Reason.
Lucky to grow up surrounded by uncles/cousins with the family farm ( families still living there since 1900s ) and watershed as my backyard/playground. Jack of all trades, master of none. Backpacker, Vol. EMS/EMT 44yrs., BRC ESD-Comm. Union factory worker (GM) -> Chem Eng -> analytical scientist (chromo, galv, spectroscopy )w/ Uniroyal Chem -> retired @50 and finally escaped nanny CT to NH. That's my smooth road, I left out all the bumps and flat tires since any damages have been repair and all is well and thriving.

[hunorangeman]

Dr. P?LFFY Mikl?s, attorney, Budapest, Hungary.

Huge fan of VC since 2012. The work I do is mostly unrelated to the topics raised here (project finance and infrastructure development), but I enjoy reading the articles. They give me some intellectual joy and recreation.

I also particulary enjoy book recommendations, because it helps to choose the next book I want to read.

Keep up good work!

[Bill Harshaw]

Retired bureaucrat from USDA, mid-70', Reston resident. Been following Volokh since roughly 2007 or so. I'm liberal so Volokh helps to broaden my info input.

[WmOckham]

I practice commercial litigation in New York City. I've been reading you guys since 2003/2004ish.

[VinniUSMC]

I am a former Marine (who would've guessed?) As a Marine, I worked in communications, primarily telephone and UHF radio.

I'm currently a metrologist (not to be confused with meteorologist) working in the automotive sector. My job is primarily computer programming and machine operating.

I was pursuing a mechanical engineering degree. In my free time I like to learn about higher level maths, physics and astronomy, and chemistry. I also have a penchant for argumentation and debate, which I like to put to use on several forums.

I'm originally from, and currently reside in, Michigan. I've lived on both coasts for several years each, and was stationed in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East for several months each.

I've been reading the Conspiracy since roughly 6 months before the move to WaPo. Congrats on the move, and good riddance to WaPo.

[VinniUSMC]

I'm also barely half the age (35) of most of you old farts. 🙂 And wish that there was the ability to edit posts.

[FlameCCT]

Hey now I resemble that remark! I also have a Marine daughter that was in the Sunni triangle before the surge. Semper Fi!

[VinniUSMC]

Thanks Flame.

Semper Fidelis.

[ThePublius]

I was always told, by Marines, that there is no such thing as a former Marine; once a Marine, always a Marine.

[VinniUSMC]

When I served, there was a distinction between "former" and "ex". A former Marine was one who had served honorably and had received their orders to report to 1st Civ Div.

[VinniUSMC]

When I served, there was a distinction between "former" and "ex". A former Marine was one who had served honorably and had received their orders to report to 1st Civ Div.

[VinniUSMC]

Deja vu

[Myrt]

all over again

[ToddR]

I always find this conversation odd. "Hey Todd, I didn't know you're an ex-Marine...or is it former Marine?" To which I respond, "I'm not sure which but I was definitely in the Marines and now I'm not and I'm OK with that."

[VinniUSMC]

Yeah, we Marines never claimed to be the smartest of the bunch.

[ThePublius]

Thanks Vinni.

[VinniUSMC]

Thanks Pub.

[MonitorsMost]

The details of my life are quite inconsequential. My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament.

My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking- I highly suggest you try it.

Or... I'm (mostly) a real estate and estate litigation attorney. Started reading on and off in law school. Became a dedicated reader around 2012. Used to post under a different name on the original site. A law nerd in general, which makes this site pretty much a must-read.

[InjuryPsych]

That's pretty da** funny

[VinniUSMC]

No citation? I mean, it would have at least made sense if your moniker was "Dr. Evil".

0/10 for originality

[LR Heckerman]

I am an engineer in Seattle, Wa. I have been following The Volokh Conspiracy for a few years now, to keep abreast of current judicial news and analysis. I have had to do some legal research years ago and came across the page regarding California laws and self defense after my wife was raped while I was away on deployment during Operation Just Cause in Panama. My wife and I were both denied concealed carry permits after the assault and I had to find an effective solution for self defense for her while I am away on deployments. Ultimately, I made the decision we would carry concealed without permit after determining that the applicable law we were breaking would result in a misdemeanor charge if we were ever caught.

Stumbling across this site opened my eyes to the complexity of law to include very simple laws that cannot be clearer, but are impacted by many other factors such as relative legal precedents and decisions that when applied to a simply worded law, we find it can be argued persuasively that a banana is not really a banana but is actually a ham sandwich. The Volokh Conspiracy contributors call the absurdity of these arguments out in some of the extreme examples.

[Jeff Walden]

Ugh, that's awful, sorry to hear about your wife. 🙁 And about the legal situation you bucked by un-permitted concealed carry, or might still be bucking but let's stay a little vague on the point. 🙂

[epeeist]

I've been visiting for a number of years, I came here originally either via a link or a search about a legal or political issue. I am a US citizen living in Canada (grew up here) so I only vote in US Federal elections. I'm not libertarian, more centrist (mostly Democrat in the sense of thinking they generally do slightly less harm and religiously I'm inclined to have a problem with harsh immigration laws, but I have voted Republican in the past) except on a few mostly free speech, social and drug-use (including pain relief) issues, but like others have posted, I like reading intelligent arguments that make me think about and sometimes change or moderate my positions.

Work-wise, I practice forensic engineering (failure analysis, expert witness work) my second career after having practiced IP litigation for a few years and deciding I wanted to do something I found more fulfilling (albeit lower-paying), though I still practice litigation part-time for interest's sake (I wasn't a fan of the business of law, but liked the other things about the practice of law). I am admitted in New York as well as in Ontario, Canada, so I hope I have a better understanding of US law than average, but I don't advise anyone regarding NY or US law!

[aluchko]

Albertan software developer in his mid-thirties. I'm fairly liberal and like to come here for intelligent and well-argued dissenting views as well learning about how the legal system works, I find it has an interesting contrast with software. I generally post under my own name (or something close to it) so I have an incentive not to say anything too outrageous, and since if it ever matters pseudonyms are easily de-anonymized.

[M. Alonso Sierra]

Spanish lawyer, from Madrid, 29. I specialise in European Union, constitutional and administrative law. I'm quite a leftie by U.S. standards, although mostly a centrist liberal by European criteria.

I started reading long before your move to the Washington Post (so perhaps more than seven years ago). My interest in the blog is its being probably the best place on the internet to find high-quality conservative legal thought.

Following this blog has influenced my writing style, both in English and Spanish. Also, many good ideas that originally appeared here have ended up in some form (and with the obvious adaptations) in my briefs before Spanish courts (with satisfactory results, I must say).

This is not the only American legal blog I follow. I also read Dorf on law, Balkinization or Lawfare.

[Myrt]

Pseudonymous because I live in SFBA, but leaving soon.
Co-owner IT consulting firm. Semi-retired life sciences freelance writer.
Interested in Conlaw since 1960s high school debate (4th Amendment topic).
Forty-year libertarian married to 50-year libertarian.
Found VC through Glenn in 2002, followed since, but with a gap during the WaPo years (paywall and hating Bezo's blog).
Happy to see you at Reason!

[Otis99]

I'm a 57 year-old Software Engineer living in Northern California. I'm also a USPSA and 3-Gun Nation Member operating comfortably (deep) behind enemy lines. Mostly interested in 2A issues, but I read everything.
I've been reading Volokh for a few years.

[JoeGoins]

[1] I've been wanting to get into the 3-gun game for a while, but I just don't know where to start. God bless you for doing in Cali.

[2] You may want to update your profile. Clicking on your username shows your address at 584....

[Otis99]

1 - Start with USPSA.

2 - Thanks. I cleaned it up, but it still seems to link there.

[CrispyBacon]

Happy New Year! I was minding my own business on my turnip farm when I found you all over at the original Volokh Conspiracy. I don't remember when that was or where I was living at the time. Living in the DC area made the Washington Post a natural source of news, although most of my time reading their site was spent at your blog. Turnip farming in DC is a good learning experience. I work on large scale farm where I mostly sort the turnips. I get to attend DC-events which is fun but I roll my eyes at the "what do you do?" culture of this place. (I don't mean to imply that is what you are doing here!) The Federalist Society (Scalia) dinners have been the highlight. Still finding my way.

[theobromophile]

Attorney, currently in New England.

I started visiting and commenting way back in 2006 or 2007, then took a long break. Hi again!

[BigChiefWahoo]

Middle-aged, Central Illinois small town lawyer, solo with a mainly civil practice. Went to law school in early middle age, previously full time farmer. Began following VC a couple of years before it went to the Post, and glad you got out from behind their pay wall.

Not sure if I'm a traditionalist with libertarian leanings, or a libertarian with traditionalist leanings.

Best regards.

[BigChiefWahoo]

Can't quite remember, but I may have found VC through a link from Instapundit.

[Phil Candreva]

I am a retired naval officer, and have been faculty at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA for 10 years. I research and teach primarily in the areas of public policy and public budgeting with an emphasis on national security. I used my GI Bill to attend law school, graduating at the young age of 53. I have since added legal research and a business law course to my agenda. I have been reading VC for a couple of years and appreciate the insights and analysis. It helps me stay current on areas of constitutional law that I otherwise would not, such as your recent commentary on the Supreme Courts Fourth Amendment cases.

[ActualRightWingPatriot]

34 year old former lawyer, working in finance now. Severe conservative living in Connecticut, unfortunately.

[jbsay]

I am an embedded software developer, an architect, and a landlord.
I find economics, law, climate, just about everything interesting.
I have been following Volokh since before WaPo.
I also follow blogs like Coyote, Popehat, Angry Economist, EconomicsOne, Marginal Revolution, CafeHayek, ...
I read Lawrence Tribe's constitutional Law book for fun.

[vrkboston]

Boston lawyer and long-time reader here. I started with Eugene on the Copyright, ReligionLaw and CenterRight listservs and have followed along to all (three?) VC sites. To be honest, I prefer the older formats because they seemed more personal and weren't as susceptible to drive-by trolling as the comments section of a blog.

[ipsquire]

In-house IT/IP lawyer in Philly, have been reading (starting on Cyberia-L) since I was a student of Prof. Post at Georgetown.

[ScottK]

Fifty-something Biglaw corporate M&A lawyer, with a degree in economics, occasionally commenting or referring local news items to the mods. I also liked it better when the commenters were lawyers, the trolls have infested the dialogue with irrelevancies and attacks on those who disagree with them.

[anorlunda]

I'm a retired power engineer. I used to help run the power grid in New York State. Now, I'm a snow bird. Florida winters and Vermont Summers.

I love intellectual stimulation and civil debate. So I spend most of my online time on physicsforums.com, but my second favorite is law and the Volokh Conspiracy Blog. Many of your posts are stimulating and provocative.

[Tom Donahue]

Pacific Northwest based attorney for 25 years, now an IP attorney at a major industrial manufacturing company, and I've been reading the Conspiracy since 2002/03. I'm interested in all the Constitutional and IP issues, and especially the interplay between the two. Fortunately, the leadership at my company understands the Streisand effect, so hopefully we'll never be featured here (or at Popehat).

[Rb2001]

Robert, 50 yo computer consultant. Former GOP caucus chair and state delegate. Left GOP in 2006 following party's attack on education choice and a coming to terms with the realities of the Iraqi invasion. Have been an independent since.

Being party free altered my views on immigration, the war on drugs, centralized banking, etc. I found myself much more aligned with libertarian ideals over time. I follow Reason, Mises, FEE, Cato as well as left and right-leaning bloggers and tweeters.

[JRMayne]

I'm a 51-year-old prosecutor (and current candidate for my boss's job.) I've been following Volokh since pretty close to its inception.

Over the last two years, I have read it less due to WaPo's increasingly onerous paywall and the disintegration of the comments section. (Here at Reason, it seems better, which is not what I would have predicted.)

I'm a big fan, and commented occasionally on the original site. Other notes: I like the slatestarcodex blog, I once talked to the police as a suspect and it was a *really* good idea to have done so, and I published the first piece showing that pitcher projections could be improved by factoring in velocity.

[Jeff Walden]

I'm going to try to guess: The reason it was good to talk, was that you led to look for certain evidence that would have been gone by the time you pointed them in that direction in a distant future when you could consult an attorney? I've read/seen all the usual books/videos about not talking to the police, and they generally seem right, except for that big BUT when they could turn out to be wrong. Which BUT I feel like I should be able to recognize in at least some circumstances, but feel I probably shouldn't trust my ability to recognize, in the moment, very much.

Never had any run-ins with police, myself, except for traffic accidents, then one time when I (not thinking very clearly) consented to a search of a bag I was carrying. But I was on my way back from the airport with a bag I'd packed myself and knew what was in it, so the sorts of potential risks to a search were definitely on the low side.

[Sam Gompers]

Engineering Professor in the Upper Midwest. Following since before the jump to WAPO.

[JohnST]

Chicago school economist, former professor, now doing expert testimony. I came to the VC from Instapundit. I enjoy legal arguments and have learned a great deal from the blog. Living in California, i have come to terms with the madness here; now just enjoying the show.

[Joe Severs]

Statistician at big pharma company. Very interested in 1A topics.

[haroldfed]

Do software licensing for the Port of Seattle. Been following you for years; well before you moved to the WAPO. In fact, now I'm trying to decide whether to keep my subscription to them. Don't always agree with you and your co-bloggers, but always learn a lot. Thanks for doing this.

[Randy Scott]

Without Volkh one to many speech article i'd probably be in jail.

The contempt article was filed but a timely appeal with a pretty good brief gave the judge a good reason to not issue.

Two months later that judge resigned, 7 months later appeal court reversed.

It was an interesting journey of early pleadings and motion shown a rambling prose respondent.

As I got into the appeals I notice my focus was much better. The motion to relinquish back to the court was/is seldom used but revealed a humble move to let the trial court fix. Opposing counsel fought it. Appeals kept jurisdiction and then reversed.

I went from like a prelaw student to a fairly well versed litigant. Even the appellant formatting turned out quite well, suprisingly. Didnt call the judge or opponents idiots once in my brief but the facts pointed that way.

Read Volokh's Academic Legal Writing, and Samples of Appellant Briefs and attacked the job before me growing into, by the appellant brief and forward, a well seasoned adversary.

You ever in a bind on the issues written by this blog including Sasha Volokh on regulation and licensing dive deep and by the time finished you will cap off 8 years of law school with real world theory toward awesome arguments.

At http://www.dueprocessday.com you can find all the ramblings until the appellant brief where the efforts and studying revealed itself. Where the opinion came REVERSED, and the mandate issued and the appellee paid all apeals costs.

[xmrdjx]

I am a recently retired sound tech after nearly forty years in the motion picture industry having moved from LA to north San Diego county. I have been lurking The Conspiracy for over ten years now, Really enjoy the different perspectives. Thanks!

[Mesoman]

I a mostly retired engineer in the Phoenix, AZ area. I've been reading the blog since the early aughts, and have learned a whole lot from it.I'm also a conservative (recovering libertarian), a Vietnam veteran, a grandfather, and a storm-chaser.

I followed the blog to WaPo and saw a marked drop-off in comment volume and q1uality, so I home it gets better here. But, even at WaPo, it had higher percentage of interesting, informative comments than any other blog I frequent.

[egisterin]

Long ago, while looking to make offerings to MLK (???), I accidentally typed "Volokh" instead of "Molokh", & have been pleasantly surprised to see the support for ideals supported by the likes of the Koch brothers. When do the sacrifices begin again?

[egisterin]

That was a joke.

[Bluepikr]

Thanks for making me learn something I probably can live without.

[Naaman Brown]

Given the distance between M and V on the keyboard that must be credited to divine intervention.

[Bruce Hayden]

Mostly retired now. First career was software engineering, and second is/was patent law. Time spent now between MT and AZ.

Met EV over 20 years ago at Cyber Law conferences put on by Mark Lemley, when he was at UT in Austin. Went out clubbing a couple times with him afterwards in Austin. Knew both of them from listserve lists, notably Cyberia-L. Discovered blogging and the VC after EV chided me one day on my incivility in one of my emails to the list, and followed the link in his .sig back to his new VC.

Most interested here these days with 1st and 2nd Amdt, but also enjoy 4th Amdt stuff.

[AJ_Liberty]

"Went out clubbing a couple times with him afterwards in Austin"

Why can't I get the image of you and EV dancing to techno out of my head?

[Mollyg]

I am an unemployed PhD nuclear engineer and I have been reading VC for at least 12 years. It is nice to have a place where law and politics can be discussed in a non-partisan manner.

[y81]

I am a real estate lawyer in New York and a Boalt graduate. (My screen name will give you my age and undergraduate affiliation.) I read the Volokh Conspiracy for a long time, even before it had comments and I had one or two email discussions with Prof. Volokh, but then I stopped when it was behind a paywall. Glad to be able to read it again. And happy to read what intelligent people say, though I am neither a libertarian nor a secular Jew, and generally disagree with the Conspirators. Mostly I am a country club Republican in my sentiments, though I don't belong to a country club or to the Republican party.

[NCJ]

I am a semi-retired criminal defense attorney in Denver. I have been reading your blog for several years. I appreciate the explanations of legal cases and positions that are frequently opposed to my own and those of the organizations I belong to.

[Waterfowl/MDT]

I am a fifty-year-old woman living in Salem, OR. I've been reading VC almost since it started, at the beginning of the Iraq War.

I'm somewhat of a polymath. My undergraduate degree is in mechanical engineering, and my graduate one is in musicology (both are from UC/Berkeley). Meanwhile, I am also interested in law, politics, gardening, cooking, sci-fi, and murder mysteries, not necessarily in that order.

Also: cats. My husband and I made a deal years ago that he could get a leather recliner if I could get a cat. Now we have two cats (I imported the second, a foster my mom had in MD), and the leather recliner does show a certain amount of claw damage, but we are one small happy family. The Hubster has discovered that, after all, he likes cats.

[Careless]

" he likes cats."

Behold the power of toxoplasmosis

[theobromophile]

"The Hubster has discovered that, after all, he likes cats."

I had that discovery a few years ago when a cat was bequeathed to me.

(Incidentally, I think I remember you from the pre-WaPo Volokh.)

[larvatus]

Born in Moscow in 1958; convicted of hooliganism there in 1976. Studied Assault Philosophy at UCLA, and Life, the Universe & Everything at Harvard. Usenet Legend rebranded as a realspace performance artist. Beat three weapons carry charges in California. Following The Volokh Conspiracy since 2002. Currently suing the state in Zeleny v. Brown et al., Case No. 17-3757 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, to compel its recognition of the right to carry firearms openly in the course of political speech.

[Jeff Walden]

I am no one to be trifled with. That is all you ever need know.

[Jeff Walden]

...okay, more seriously. 🙂

I think I now (unlike the last time we had this kind of thread) can claim to be a long-time reader, since 2009. Software engineer at Mozilla by trade, working on the JavaScript implementation in Firefox.

I gained a hobbyist interest in law from an ethics-and-public-policy-and-computers undergrad class at MIT taught by Hal Abelson. Around which time I began to read the occasional Supreme Court opinion or brief, and I listened to oral arguments in Baze v. Rees shortly after their early release. Somewhat after that I started regularly reading SCOTUSblog, then adding in the Volokh Conspiracy to the mix made things really take off. There's very little VC people post about that I don't find interesting enough to read completely. Even the goofy procedural goo and ad-law is neat! And some particular subject areas Conspirators dive into deeply -- the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, the Fourth Amendment -- mesh well with my own deeper interests.

[...to be continued...]

[Jeff Walden]

[...continued...]

At this point I've probably read dozens of Supreme Court briefs and opinions, I've made the trip to DC with the sole purpose of attending an interesting Supreme Court oral argument (or arguments) (or with the additional purpose of picking up one of eleven different Green Bag SCOTUS bobbleheads I own) -- I've been to fourteen of them at this point. (Including such highlights as NLRB v. Noel Canning, McCullen v. Coakley, Holt v. Hobbs, IMO Heien v. North Carolina, Walker v. Texas Sons of Confederate Veterans, and Matal v. Tam [nee Lee]). I spend way more time reading and thinking about law than I have any justification for doing. 🙂

Had I discovered my interest in law before senior year in college (by that point well into a remunerative field of study), I would almost certainly have considered law school. But by the time I realized it, I was well qualified for well-paying jobs. Money doesn't really motivate that much, anyway. And spending $200k, and (much worse) losing three years of my life, to go to law school, just isn't going to be in the cards now. (Even if something like patent examiner would make up the money, nothing will make up the time.)

[...to be concluded...]

[Jeff Walden]

[...concluding...]

Besides -- right now I get to read about areas that interest me, I get to read about all the areas that interest me, in as little or great detail as I want, not on a deadline, purely for the intellectual enjoyment. I get to skip all the boring day-to-day grind and only think about fun legal questions and areas, exactly as much as I want. I can skip all the dull and boring stuff. Win-win all around, really.

[Jeff Walden]

And if it wasn't obvious, to echo another earlier commenter, I hate the visible-only-after-submit 1500 character limit on comments here.

[lhfry]

So glad you left the Post. Since dropping my subscription a couple of years ago, I could not read your linked articles.

[PAR65]

A retired electrical engineer for 35 years from AT&T/Bell Labs/Western Electric is my pedigree:))
Being an amateur "political/legal wonk, reading the Volokh Conspiracy provided lots of fodder for my junkie habit over the years...even after it joined the pages of WAPO... (A friend of mine who attended one of his classes taught me the correct pronunciation of "Volokh" 🙂

Having served on a federal grand jury for 2 years, the "Conspiracy" was a welcome companion on the train ride home from the weekly sessions. I might add, it is far from the truth that "grand juries will indict a ham sandwich!". Crooks for sure. Not ham sandwiches.

[Jon Rowe]

I am a full Professor of law and business at the community college level. ESQ., JD-MBA, LLM, all graduate degrees from Temple University.

I've been here pretty much from the beginning.

[Blatny91]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l0p30JLodY

[Blatny91]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bta1a5hG0TU

[CTRSteve]

Just a person who enjoys reading about the law. I have no association with it. I'm retired military. But the logic and argument about the issues you address appeals to me. I've followed you from the original site, to WaPo, and now here. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I disagree, but you force me to think about "why" and that is a good thing. Thanks.

[Burkhard]

Legal academic in law and technology at the University of Edinburgh, came across the Conspiracy through a post by Orin Kerr who remains one of my main sources for the US discussion, and one of the most inspiring writers on law and tech. I read the Conspiracy also as my private resistance against filter bubbles, as a card carrying LibDem arguably a bit to the left of some of the conspirators (and I teach data protection, so when reading anything by Baker tend to hit my hand with a hammer to detract from the pain) .

[Blatny91]

I'm a bum, a drunk, a poet, a liar. Someone who has read everything - I am burdened by the weight of books above me - I met you in an ally, strange the darkness, you said 'I hate you' and me '~How surprising!' How to surprise oneself? A drunken 'uncle' that falls over a child's toy. How to be 'Underground'? Assuming one was 'Overground'? Poetry is an end - to be alive a prejudice. A mere leaning towards wha....t? Existentially, a mere 'expression'. Lawyerly you love.

[dwb68]

Just a guy with a keyboard, who is sometimes contrarian, often libertarian, always Independent.

Started reading two iterations ago (before WaPo), mostly for 2A related posts. But I find the wide breadth of topics, from 2A to net neutrality, very interesting. Interesting in the sense that this blog prods and challenges my thinking. As for my background, I have graduate degrees in quantitative finance and math, and lots of field experience reverse-engineering results-oriented analysis and conclusions. Honestly though, I just write reports about other peoples bullshit math. Other people can decide for themselves whether they are persuaded by the bullshit math.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Naturally (with my Oscar-worthy experience) I recorded my introduction.

(That's me at :55)

More and even more introduction (I'm back at :35 of the final installment).

With the introductions out of the way, let's rock.

[bosox63]

Retired military JAG, former AUSA, former employment-law litigator in private practice, current federal ALJ who may or may not be constitutionally appointed. I've been a VC reader and very occasional commenter* since the original site, through WaPo, and now at Reason. This move feels right.

*Obligatory disclaimer: All opinions are my own and do not reflect the position of my unnamed agency or its officers or employees.

[farcenterideologue]

29 year old lawyer in Atlanta. Recently graduated from Emory law school - started following VC after the first of my three classes with the great Prof. Sasha Volokh. I tend to be more liberal leaning than the average conspirator but I enjoy the differing perspectives and the comments section when it isn't stupid/trollish.

[OtisAH]

I'm 25 years in land use and enforcement. I'm fairly certain I first stumbled on this place when Sarcastro was Zombie Richard Feynman, and was probably brought here by a Citizen's United or a Baker Surveillance-R-Us post.

[jdh]

Aging engineer. Interested in civil liberties. Started reading before Volokh first went to the Washington Post.

[RonnyK]

Family law attorney in Miami, Florida interested in the constitutional issues if custody and family court cases primarily, but have been reading the conspiracy for years on all issues.

[mka]

30's something pediatrician with public health training. Reading off and on for 3-4 years, after I was introduced to the VC by my husband. Currently weathering the snowstorm on the East Coast.

[CAMA Prosecutor]

Career prosecutor who has handled high tech issues since 1992 in California and Massachusetts. I have taught a college course on legal issues in computer forensics and am drafting a law school issue on cyber crime law.

I have been a sporadic reader for years.I particularly follow Prof. Kerr's posts on 4th Amendment developments.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Former law review editor, who for 20 years worked for partners who could barely write a sentence, who made lazy and egregious mistakes that I had to either fix or hide, but who got business into the firm due to their connections. Reader of the VC since 2006.

[Brightly]

I'm in IT Operations and have been reading Volokh since it was on its own website. Putting the difficulty of one dimensional labels aside: I have migrated politically from a NeoConservative to more of maybe a Fusionist/Paleoconservative. In my lifetime now, I have seen how the ever expansive role of politics destroy almost everything it touches.

Everything I have read over the last ten years makes me believe that the precepts of the United States Constitution are relevant. It is an incredibly prescient document designed as a stumbling block to tyranny.

I am opposed to how the US approaches immigration, which to my mind has been executed to the benefit of big business and the electoral interests of the democrat party and to the detriment of limited government and the wishes of the citizenry.

I am on the fence about legalized drugs and I see the topic as a large libertarian contradiction: There is certainly a states rights issue here, but how do you keep the public from having to pick up the check for the damage to society that I am certain would increase?

I think the two biggest threats to our Republic is the growing number of enemies of the First Amendment and the debt.

In my non-expert view, the authors of Volokh Conspiracy I find myself mostly agreeing with are probably Professors Volokh and Adler, the one I have the hardest time "gisting" with or understanding would be Professor Somin.

Thank you for your contributions..

[RandyFlagg]

I'm a liberal in a red district in California. I'm married, with children. I work as an Information Security Director. I'm a law school dropout and am currently working on my second master's degree (in Computer Science). I started reading The Volokh Conspiracy on its original site, followed you all to the Washington Post then followed you here. I think I started visiting the site when I was reading Orin Kerr's Computer Crime casebook (for fun) five years ago.

[ThePersuader0809]

Husband, father, musician (vocalist), computer programmer, always had a keen interest in constitutional law. Followed Volokh Conspiracy before it moved to Washington Post with great interest, happy to have rediscovered it, and look forward to learning more from the highly competent and intelligent legal minds here - thank you for sharing your knowledge!

[ThePersuader0809]

Just googled myself and VC - found comment from November 2006 regarding Alito's selection to the Supreme Court and some NYT polling regarding abortion - so it's been 11 years!

[JimE]

Greetings,
IANAL. While I took a Cyber Law course from the National Defense University, the biggest effect that class had on me was to show that I do better with computers than law. (My best friend is an over-achiever; he has a BSEE, an MBA, a JD, and a DO: Not a beggar man, thief, or Indian Chief - but fits the other categories: rich man, poor man, doctor, & lawyer.)

I am a Security Engineer for the U.S. Army at Ft. Huachuca, AZ - best place to live, so stay away.

I enjoy reading Volokh Conspiracy, and have been doing so for a couple of years - before the move to the Washington Post. I'm glad you've moved on to the Reason site, though for some of your posters, I wonder how comfortable they'll feel. Part of the reason I enjoy reading the VC is that it shows me how many ways there are to think about a given topic - my way, your way, the courts' way, and so forth. Sometimes, I find my original opinion (where I actually have one) validated; other times, I have to think about my opinion - am I right or off-kilter? Was it a knee-jerk thought, or had I actually considered other possible aspects of (whatever the issue at hand is). Sometimes, I almost want to go through the screen at the author - others, not so much.

Please stay safe - and keep up the good work.

[Bluepikr]

I am a rock,

I am an island.

Since then I worked 40+ years as an engineer. Now retired. A fan of history, ConLaw, and an avid exerciser of my 2nd Amendment rights.

[Sue K.]

I'm a retired librarian. I served on the American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee for four years, and chaired the Intellectual Freedom Round Table. I'm concerned about First Amendment and privacy issues, and have followed VC for several years.

[MarkBoyle]

Husband, father of 2, son. 25 year lawyer and managing partner of 11 lawyer multi-state lawfirm concentrating in commercial insurance recoveries. Following Volokh for around 12 years. I have been interested in liberty based legal theories since reading works from Harry Jaffa and Richard Epstein starting as an undergraduate.

[James in Perth]

I am a tax lawyer working primarily with employee benefits issues. I have been a subscriber of The Volokh Controversy in each of its internet locations and simply enjoy the well-written observations on the law and the usually reasonable opinions from the commentators and readers. I used to teach statutory interpretation and administrative law. Keep up the good work!

[rodor]

I'm a 3rd year law student at the University of Denver. I'm the President of the Federalist Society at DU, and I've been reading this blog since 2014. Hopefully we get a couple of you out here to Colorado soon to speak at a FedSoc event.

[Jeff_Kleppe]

I'm an Arabic and Pashto language analyst in the U.S. Navy. Started reading VC over the summer of 2009 while searching for a way to stay abreast of current events in the law; continued because I found the posts to be accessible to the layman. Very pleased that you aren't hosted by WaPo anymore.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I'm a Reasonoid who reads this every now and then when I notice it. By trade I'm a recent Ph.D in machine learning, and I've just started a new job that will hopefully entail further research in that area.

My original background before switching to computers was Philosophy, but I ended up disliking the atmosphere of academic Philosophy that I quickly switched out to other work. I read less of that then I used to, but I still hold little bits of passion for Kierkegaard. I've also been getting into the Catholic authors.

My true passion though is arguing with people online and making confusing jokes that makes people think I'm a troll.

So, thank you for reading my blog.

[Tim May]

How to compress 65 years into a paragraph?

Born 1951. Read Rand in 1967, but not able to stand her since. UC Santa Barbara 1970-74. Had some exposure to the ARPANET then. Met some "Reason" people in the area. Studied physics. Joined a small company named Intel. Had good results there. Retired in 1986. (Not sure it was retirement then, but various investments made it so.) Developed interest in implications of cryptography, digital currencies. Co-founded "Cypherpunks" group in 1992. Met some of you on Trotter Hardy's "Cyberlaw" list in 1990s when I could help educate some law professors--stuff was pretty new to many back then. Still involved in things like Bitcoin, applications of math. Less so in most "law" issues. Occasional commenter on this group, but mostly not much interested in online debate anymore.

[Tim May]

Correction: I now recall that the list was called "Cyberial-l" or something like that, not "Cyberlaw."

Anyway, a lot of the "early" (1990s) cyberlaw discussion took place on that list, circa 1993-95.

[Jmaie]

Old fart, been in international shipping since the early eighties. Political persuasion is "a pox on both your houses." Not a fan of decisions based on whether someone has an (R) or (D) after their name. Policy junkie, enjoy the law although without formal training. Stumbled across the Conspiracy in 2007 and stayed due to the superior quality of the commentariat. Was not greatly impressed by the Wapo switch but am cautiously optimistic about the new digs.

[PoxOnBothYourHouses]

"Political persuasion is "a pox on both your houses." "

Hey! I resemble that remark!

[Renimar]

Long-time reader, started reading commentary back when Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada and Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow were still being litigated. Layman ConLaw reader. Software engineer and project manager in California.

[cMh]

What I do: Conduct research to assess and improve the safety of critical software-intensive systems, particularly, but not exclusively, aircraft.

Where I do it: For NASA Langley Research Center, the nation's oldest federal aeronautics research facility. (It is located in Hampton, Virginia, not in Langley, Virginia.)

When I started visiting: I do not recall for sure, but it was before the move to the WaPo site.

Anything else I'd like to say: Although the interests I'm paid to have are almost completely unrelated to the topics of this blog, some of my personal interests are not. I'm an avid follower of SCOTUS and all matters related to Constitutional law, with a particular interest in first amendment issues.

[kldimond]

Electronics Engineering Technician/Technologist and sometime Management Engineer/Consultant... mostly in southern Kern County and northern Los Angeles County, California.

I first started reading VC when it was just a blog, at least a decade ago; probably closer to two.

As a liberty freak and business person, law has been of considerable interest to me. Yours and, Lawliberty are sites I frequent for law. I often share articles from either on Facebook, as I have a deluded wish to wake people up.

Thanks for what you guys do, even if you aren't ideal AnCaps. LOL. Well, neither am I, but I'm closer to it that you are. I'm also much less amenable to the vicissitudes of language than you are, Eugene. 🙂 But I appreciate how you do otherwise stickle (well, what is stickling on *sufficient* grounds? That's what I'm saying) language...

[Gerry R]

Semi-retired IT consultant. Ran across the blog about ten years ago, pre WaPo, when I was working for an electronic discovery firm and I regularly read these articles as well as Overlawyered.

I have a libertarian bent and enjoy all the posts, even when they get down in the weeds. Constructive commenters are worth reading, too. You guys do a great service to the debate

[swood1000]

I am an attorney and CPA, with an LL.M in Taxation, now involved in writing computer software. I arrived here a couple of years ago after reading a book by Tim Groseclose on the use of Race in Admissions at UCLA. He mentioned that it was only after his report was the subject of an article in the Volokh Conspiracy that it really started getting a lot of national attention.

I like the high quality of the articles on this blog and also the high quality of many of the comments. There seem to be fewer utterly inane comments than are sometimes found on other blogs. No doubt this is partly due to some intelligent administration.

I miss the up-vote as well, though I don't miss having to go through and expand all the comments in order to search them.

I also miss the WaPo feature that will bring up all of one's posts and show replies, incomplete as it was since only replies to posts at the first two levels were shown, and only replies above the "View more replies" line. Disqus is much better than either WaPo or Reason at allowing a person to locate both his posts and replies to them. But Disqus has its own problems in that one cannot scroll through them and count on seeing them all. I'd be curious to hear views on which blogs have the best software for the kind of comments we see at Volokh, and what features people think are the most useful.

[Bwaaah]

I'm a software engineer and business operations manager in New York. I've been reading VC for about 7 years. I think the writing here reflects relatively self-critical thinking. I get to learn some about my world without having to wade through the typical cruft of shameless or un-self-aware partisans.

[David Cary Hart]

I was a (Deming oriented) quality-management consultant. I ended my career as the CEO of one of my larger not-for-profit clients. I am also a survivor or gun violence.

These days I write The Slowly Boiled Frog blog ( http://slowlyboiledfrog.com ) which covers LGBT issues; sometimes gun safety.

I am a recovering GOPer who voted for Obama twice and then Clinton. VC is one of my first reads every day. I disagree with much of it but it is always intellectually honest and fun to read. It challenges me to re-examine my own beliefs.

[DonP]

Following Volokh avidly since well before the WaPo "experiment" and the Heller decision. Got hooked on the inside baseball legal insights.

Retired Ad Executive, living in Illinois splitting my time between teaching Concealed Carry Classes, filling in as a Range Safety Officer at local events and restoring the 'junkyard" '62 Triumph TR3B that was my college car.

Shooting High Power competitions with a 75 year old M1 Garand and a 90+ year old Springfield '03.

[liza moon]

self employed video maker, old house restorer, and real estate speculator here in bucolic buchanan michigan. i am a new fan, appreciating the scholarly legal discussions!

[Sharkcutie]

Lawyer (3 decades) in smallish law firm in small city in the midwest. I've been reading since before Jonathan Adler got tenure! Although I surmise that I am on the opposite side of most political issues from the writers, I enjoy the blog and appreciate the excellent writing and thought!

[cloudy1983]

Patent attorney and former astrophysicist, now working in a university technology transfer office in Massachusetts. Been reading since ~2006 when I was in law school. Thanks to all for the many years of thought provoking conspiracy (commenters included).

[Farside]

satirist

[Kazinski]

I'm a 62 year old computer programmer. I was Kazinski at Volokh.com, although I started reading in the pre-comment days. Then I was Kazhole at the WP because I guess someone else used Kazinski there.

Kazinski is a nickname I got at work named after Ted Kaczynski, because when I was building my cabin on the weekends I described my shed and construction bunkhouse as a Kaczynski cabin. I finished building my real cabin now so the Kaczynski cabin has been dismantled but the name stuck. But my cabin is off the grid, and fairly remote, but it does have 17 skylights so I don't have to have a lot of power to make it livable.

[ET1SS]

Maintenance management in Massachusetts. Started reading legal blogs when the Apple Samsung rounded corners got interesting (boy do I miss Groklaw). Kept reading legal blogs and stumbled on to the conspiracy before the move to Washington Post.
I find the comments here much more civil than most.

[tekcoyote]

I'm a 70 year old trying-to-be-retired surgeon--but keep getting asked for medical opinions, etc. Also serial entrepreneur and teacher/prof.

Raised by lawyers, though, which is probably the source of infection with legal interests, esp. constitutional ones: mom was a criminal lawyer addicted to trial and never had a guilty client (I started to write "patient")--until one day she recognized the voice of the guy who had stolen her car at gunpoint while she was trying on dresses. Consistency wasn't her long suit: she insisted that Dad not take him as a client--but she didn't volunteer to burn him. Dad was the ultimate 4A expert and plea bargainer. All this was in New Orleans, much of it in the Jim Garrison era. Diner table conversations never lacked for color. Gentility sometimes went light, but never interest. Each conversation involved cross-examine the kids.

Been reading VC for about the past 10-12 years. Usually very good and thought-provoking.

[TKing]

My name is Taylor. I am a litigation attorney in southern California at a large law firm. I do mostly patent litigation (and went to law school planning to do patent litigation), but I found out during law school that I also love constitutional law, including criminal procedure. I started following the blog while taking Crim Pro from Professor Kerr about 5-6 years ago, and I've been reading ever since.

[EPUnum]

Was introduced to Volokh (and Powerline and Beldar Blogs) way back when during the 2004 campaign (I think) while absorbed with legal perspectives inre the Swift Boat Veterans campaign against John Kerry. Mann v. Stein drew me here once again.

Good luck with your new residence.

[EPUnum]

Oops....Steyn...I will sorely miss edit capability 😉

[Dan J]

Curious person with low education that was introduced to Volokh by Don Boudreaux and Russ Roberts of CafeHayek.
I appreciate and enjoy the knowledge and education provided by Volokh.
More than anything, I can appreciate detailed explanations that explain current cases as tv 'news' has but 3-5minutes of airtime and spends most of it trying to convince while taking political positions.

[Sharper]

Started commenting on the Volokh Conspiracy around 2011. With the transition to the WP, mostly stopped commenting at that point because if you auto-delete their cookies to painlessly ignore their paywall, it's a hassle to re-enable them just to be able to login and comment. I understood the decision, but glad to see you guys at Reason instead.

Pretty sure I haven't missed reading any published article here in the last 6-7 years. It's on my regular rotation to visit. Autodidact and constitutional law and/or legal interpretation are one of my areas of interest. Own some of the more obscure academic legal books by the Conspirators.

Politically, lean toward Anarcho-Capitalist/Voluntarist, but not an extremist/purist and so happy to support most people/ideas which lead towards greater liberty. Grew up in southern CA, made it to AZ via Northern VA, likely heading for NC for a few years very soon.

Technologist by employment, Systems Architect by nature, so very interested in systems design and behavior, which to me includes people systems such as legal systems as well computer hardware, software, networks, roads, etc... For my day job, I manage a team to take care of one of the largest (in terms of numbers of network devices and circuits) internal corporate networks in the world which doesn't belong to a telecom company.

Also a fiction writer, soccer player/coach/referee, married with 4 kids, love military and political history, etc... Mostly a generalist with a few specialties.

[an oaf]

An oaf. Subvet. Lawyer friend showed me this coool Conspiracy site.
Stuck around cause the articles are interesting and keep my attention despite the add to most things.

[Danny Wolf]

I season my steak with salt formed from the tears of 10,000 liberals who have strayed into the foul depths of the innerwebs inhabited by my site: http://columbianpost.com and become lost forever in the digital abyss.

[Steven S. Epstein]

Practicing law in Massachusetts since Dec. 1985 and someday I hope to get it right.

[Ghost on the Highway]

A nuclear engineer from north Alabama and worked in a nuclear plant for 35 years. I note that there are many engineers that follow your columns. The latter half of my career dealt with directly interfacing with the NRC, which is the regulatory agency for nuclear plants. So I am familiar with the federal rule-making process and the various other vehicles that regulatory agencies use to impose changes on industries. And it's mostly the other vehicles. On the side, I have in interest in constitutional law and been reading your blogs for a number of years. I have a son who is a lawyer and my best friend is a trial lawyer so we often have quite vigorous debates concerning legal matters. Always thought your move to Wapo was an odd fit and though you were gracious in leaving as you should be, I suspect it was in the end ? it was an odd fit. But glad you're back in the blogosphere with perhaps added flexibility.

[gdublaw2]

So Cal attorney; part-time solo practitioner. JD, The Dickinson School of Law, Penn State Univ.

[Donmagpie]

Retired Federal employee who specialized in policy and practice of implementing the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act. Live in Colorado and hunt and fish as often as I can.

[Cooley R Howarth]

retired law professor

[Merlin's Beard]

General practice attorney and Drake Law grad here, working in a small firm in Des Moines, Iowa. I started following the Conspiracy in 2006. I've met several of the Conspirators at various law symposiums over the years, and always enjoyed the experience. I'm a libertarian-ish conservative, a Republican for 20 years until Trump came along. This and SCOTUSBlog are the only legal blogs I've consistently read since finding them years ago. The commentariat has always been first-class (though things got a little less, er, *refined* during the WaPo days).

Keep up the good work, Eugene and Co.!

[Thomas Potter]

Career prosecutor in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, followed the blog for the last ten years

[Michael Cook]

Just a poor Montana farm boy who bought way too much useless education. Ended up scrambling for a low level government job that forced me to sit through over 300 trials and several thousand motions/hearings/arraignments. Found I liked about 80% of attorneys and judges and about 85% of all defendants, even the ones guilty as hell. Only liked about 70% of the law as it has evolved in Constitutionally questionable ways and about 30% of the expert witnesses.

Also I am a poet:

Deep State, Deep State, you had your giddy day
Hey now comes the Deeper State
And the devil too shall pay. . .

--from Ode to a Partisan FBI--

[Joe Berry]

Hello Eugene,

It's been quite a number of years since we've spoken. I'm still working in software development but haven't seen or touched an HP computer in over 20 years (other than my laptop). I honestly can't recall when we last spoke (I think I actually spoke to your mother more recently about buying Vesoft) so I'll just make it brief. Galia and I moved back to Israel about 10 months ago, this time for keeps. We live in a small village called Moreshet and are building a house here. I'm working for an Israeli company called Visuality Systems. Great job, lots of fun.

I've been following your blog for a number of years now originally due to my 2nd Amendment interests but more recently I've learned a lot about many other subjects. We of course had to sell our rather nice gun collection as importing private firearms is not legal. I'm hoping to get an Israeli carry permit as soon as possible (another 2 year wait required).

If you have never been to Israel then you must come here for a vacation. I'd love to show you around or just have a cup of coffee/tea with you.

May you continue to have much success with your work.

Sincerely Yours,
Joe Berry

[DKWalser]

I'm a CPA in private practice in Arizona. I've worked in both large and small firms and focus on tax issues. I've been following the Volokh Conspiracy since before your Washington Post days. I don't agree with everything any of the conspirators writes, but I find virtually everything well-written and worth reading.

[David Nieporent]

Hell, if everyone else is doing it, I'll jump off the Brooklyn Bridge / post my VC-bio:

Don't know the exact date, but I've been reading the VC since its inception or close to it, in the pre-comment era. Probably via a link from Instapundit, which I used to read in the early 2000s. I'm, like far too many people here, an attorney. NY/NJ. Used to do general commercial litigation/IP, but now employment law. Libertarian politically.

[Allen Garvin]

Hello,

I've been reading VC since mid 2000s, occasionally posting a comment on the original website, not much in the WashPost days. I'm on the left-libertarian side, which isn't always well-represented here, but I've been a Reason reader and occasional subscriber since the 90s. I like the move to completely paywallless hosting, but I remain skeptical of the quality of commenting on Reason in general. We'll see. It's been better than usual of late!

[Pacific]

Bill Warren era UCLAW grad following the VC since the early 2008 posts about the Obama FEMA camps. Dallas Willard and Bill Frisell fan; played guitar at the Coliseum in 2016. Neither left nor right.

[Grichard]

Midwestern academic anesthesiologist, reading this blog pretty consistently for about 5 years.

No specific connection to legal scholarship, although remarks arising from this blog occasionally prompt my attorney brother-in-law to splutter "how do you *know* that?" Really, that makes it worthwhile...

[E6]

Federal government IP attorney. Mostly appellate work. Politically, center-left democrat on average but with many issue-specific variations in either direction. Age 50s. I've read/skimmed VC posts almost daily for around 10 years.

[richmond lawyer]

I'm an attorney at a small Richmond Virginia firm and long time reader of both Reason and Volokh before the migration from WAPO. My politics has migrated from republican to libertarian over the past few years and enjoy the different perspective you get with Reason articles and the in depth view on important legal issues from Volokh.

[Michael Cook]

Really impressed with all the bios here, especially the strong mix of engineering-technical types with law school grads. I kinda regret that in my bio I poor-mouthed my long but low-level courtroom career and forgot to mention my 2002 successful patent of a novel method of space launch from high altitude aircraft. Took 52 pages of dense technical writing but got past the aerospace PhD's.

[Pork Belly]

Mid 30's mechanical engineer working in energy R&D. I started reading the VC and Reason at about the same time, probably 3-4 years ago. I'm interested in Constitutional law as it relates to limits on government power and civil liberties (if that's any surprise here). I especially enjoy 1A, 2A, and eminent domain topics. I also enjoy steak dinners and evenings spent at the gun range... Oops, sorry that last part was meant for my online dating profile.

[John E. Haynes]

Retired historian living in Santa Fe, NM. Have been visiting VC for a number of years, through three hosting sites I believe. Chiefly interested in First Amendment and federalism issues.

[jawlz]

Haven't participated in a 'who are you' threads before; reading through the comments is interesting. There's some esteemed company reading here (which I always suspected, and now see as confirmed).

I'm married to my college sweetheart, in my mid-30s, and a graduate of UCLA's undergrad political science program. I came close to applying to law school out of undergrad (took the LSAT, scored decently), but decided to get some work experience first, and just continued on instead of going back to school. I worked for the City of Los Angeles for about a decade, and now work for the City of San Diego. In both cities I worked as a policy analyst*, largely focused on those cities' public works, environmental, and water programs, but at various times I've also worked on elections, redistricting, ethics regulations, and budgeting. I've been reading the VC for at least a decade or so now, though not entirely sure when I first came across it.

Hobbies/interests include technology and computers (I was brought up by two computer engineer parents), ancient history, literature, tinkering, home repairs, cider making, and reading less-technical legal works. My politics started out as pretty close to libertarian, but they've since softened in an left/right sense while hardening into a belief that local government should take precedence over national government as it's generally closer and more responsive to the people it serves (though given my career, of course I would say this).

[jawlz]

*'Policy Analyst' is the rough job title, but the job involves more than just providing analysis - I work with elected officials, department heads/staff, and public interest groups to make and adjust policies, implement programs, etc, on top of just writing analyses of various topics and programs.

[Mattycares]

I started reading this website about 6-7 years ago in law school, prior to the move to the WAPO.

I now work as an attorney with a primary focus on civil litigation - mostly in the realm of torts, but I also am fortunate enough to be able practice some 1A law.

I tend to like the wide range of views of the various posters.

[Brian Kennedy]

I'm a long-time VC reader, though less so during the WP years, and more often during periods when you were writing about cases I was working on. I retired in 2017 after more than 40 years in the Federal Programs Branch of the Justice Department's Civil Division.

[Kords]

Second-year law student at the University of Virginia. Been following the VC for about two years now after discovering it on Twitter. Glad you guys are at Reason now so that I can read more than five posts a month!

[Walter Tuvell]

Mathematician by training; Philosopher/Classicist by inclination; CompSci/Programmer by trade; Family Man by desire; Lawyer Wannabe by necessity.

Got dragged into the legal arena by being plaintiff in employment case. That case was falsely dismissed at Summary Judgment: criminal conduct by the judges (Falsification of Facts, Obstruction of Justice, Cover-Up, Fraud Upon the Courts by Judges).

Therefore became (lay-)expert in Judicial Misconduct (esp. S.J. abuse). Maintain a website for that purpose, trying to raise awareness of that major issue, and activate/organize against it. Not as easy as it sounds, because the Legal Establishment as a whole (as opposed each/every individual practitioner) depends on the status quo illegality/unconstitutionality for its livelihood.

See my website for the Full Story. Ask Me Anything, publicly or privately.

--- Walter Tuvell (PhD, Math, MIT & U.Chicago --- i.e., "not-a-crank")
--- http://JudicialMisconduct.US (esp., .../CaseStudies/WETvIBM#smokinggun and environs)

[gooners]

Hey! I can comment again. Hi guys. Long time no see. Anything interesting happen since we abandoned the old, green website?

[Jake]

I'm Jake Boone, a city councilor in Cottage Grove, Oregon, and treasurer of the League of Oregon Cities. I'm not sure how long I've been a reader, but I remember when you moved to the Washington Post, so I started at some point before that. Needless to say, I'm a fan.

[Non Sequitur]

I've been reading the VC since 2004. I am presently a labor lawyer for a DOD component agency. In the past I have been a Public Defender, commercial litigator and the owner of a small family law practice. This is my first comment at the VC, be it at Volokh.com, WaPo or now at Reason.

VC is one of the few legal blogs I have visited where the reader comments have been mostly insightful and stimulating. When you guys moved to WaPo, I got a digital subscription solely to read the VC. Unfortunately, the user commentary devolved into something unreadable. Hopefully the move to Reason will see a reversion to a more intellectual, and less emotional/political discussion.

[Masked Professor]

I am a media law professor at a state university. Earned a PhD from a university that has a PhD/JD program. Never finished the JD part because as a former journalist, my main interest is freedom of expression, privacy, copyright, etc. I really love the law but had no intention of becoming a lawyer. I found a lot of the stuff about the legal profession, procedural law, and so on, really boring. I grew up in a British Commonwealth jurisdiction where lawyers pepper their submissions with Latin expressions and call each other "my learned friend!" Picked up French media law along the way.

I have been a tenured professor at state universities in New England, the Midwest, and now Texas. I research and publish on comparative and international media law (the US, France, EU & Africa) with a focus on Internet law. I have followed VC since 2008 and find it very level-headed and informative. It is my go-to location for interpretation of American First Amendment law. The contributions of Eugene Volokh and Orrin Kerr are always very insightful. I have made some of EV's posts on hate speech required reading in my classes. Merci messieurs!

[um ok]

Retired surgeon. Member of the NRA & ACLU, long time supporter of LP. Worked in many capacities at ~20 hospitals in 3 states. Previous owner &/or board member of a hand full of various types of businesses & 10 year committee chair of underwriting for a malpractice insurance company. Morphed from juvenile delinquent to The Man to hippie biker. A clueless pinball in the game of life, tee hee!

[Buddhapop]

Deputy DA in a small county in Oregon with 20 years of experience. Currently handling major sex crimes and other felonies. Live in crazy Portland, Oregon.

[Lost Fox]

Two great shows:

Fauda (Netflix) - absolutely fantastic show of political and cultural tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. Superb acting, story-lines, and characters.

When Heroes Fly (Netflix) - an Israel-based show set primarily in Bogota. Again, great characters and acting.