It’s time for a special edition of the reader’s mailbag.  Why?  Well, just because.

Dear Nice Friends,

Hello.  If you are receiving this email, then it probably means that you and I have at some point discussed books, or law, or books about law, or some other thing.  We are also not facebook friends (or maybe we are facebook friends, but I fear that you have long, long ago blocked my messages from coming anywhere near you).  I hope you will excuse this short, one-time message to let you know that my new book, The Odd Clauses: Understanding the Constitution Through Ten of its Most Curious Provisions, has just been published by Beacon Press.  As the title suggests, the book is about a bunch of lesser known constitutional clauses that are nonetheless interesting and important.  As the first two paragraphs put it:

The Constitution of the United States contains some of the most powerful and well-known legal provisions in the history of the world.  The First Amendment, for example, gives us the right to speak our minds without government interference.  The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment stops the state from discriminating against us because of our race or gender.  And the Fourth Amendment, as our television crime dramas constantly remind us, prevents the police from searching our homes without a warrant. In the past twenty years, I would bet that several hundred books have been written about these important clauses, and for good reason.  This book, however, is not one of them.

Instead, this book will shine a much-deserved light on some of the Constitution’s lesser-known clauses—its benchwarmers, its understudies, its unsung heroes, its crazy uncles.  To put it another way, if the Constitution were a zoo, and the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments were a lion, a giraffe, and a panda bear, respectively, then this book is about the Constitution’s shrews, wombats, and bat-eared foxes.  And believe me, if you’ve never laid eyes on a bat-eared fox before, you are in for a treat. 

Just so you know, the book makes a great stocking stuffer.  Provided, however, that the stocking we are talking about is rather on the largish side, and that the book is the only thing you plan to stuff into it. 

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE FAMOUS:  You look terrific today!  Is that a new hairdo/pair of eyeglasses/nose?  As you probably know, the slightest whisper from you can make all the difference between a book that soars to the top of the bestsellers list and one, like my first book, that sort of quietly disappears into the twilight.   A generous mention on your facebook page to your 4,683 fans.  A small word to Jon Stewart during a commercial break.  The tiniest of tweets (I’m talking to you here, Shaq).  Throw me a crumb, won’t you?

A SPECIAL SPECIAL NOTE TO THOSE OF YOU IN THE MEDIA: Forget the famous people, you are the ones that really make things happen.  Say no more.  (call me.)

Thank you for your time,

Jay

Jay Wexler
Professor of Law
Boston University

In contrast to the very important self-proclaimed scholars and thoughts leaders, Jay is just a fun guy who happens to teach law.  Even when he posts at PrawfsBlawg, he’s funny. Even then very first time I stumbled across Jay, he was funny.   So I’m thinking, maybe his book is funny? 

I didn’t read his first book, but that’s because he never sent me a review copy and it’s not like I would ever pay for a book written by a lawprof, even a funny one.  If he sends me this new one for review, I will give serious consideration to reading it.  But having received and read this email, I’m seriously afraid of the book being a terrible letdown.  I would hate to watch Jay spiral into the abyss of scholarship and lose all respect for him. 

I immediately dashed off an email to Stewart about the book, but have yet to hear back.

On to other matters.  When I saw the headline come across my RSS readers, Your An Idiot, I immediately dashed off an email to Radley Balko:

You might want to change the title from “Your” to “You’re” given that you’re a big time professional HuffPo writer and all.

I then read the post and, after due deliberation, realized that I completely missed the point and sent another email retracting my first email, hoping that Balko would be a gentle, understanding soul and appreciate my good intentions.  He replied:

I will refrain from making a snarky reply. Except for sending this email noting that I am refraining from making a snarky reply.

This puts to rest the myth that libertarians have no self-control.  I appreciate Balko’s demonstration of enormous restraint.