 Judge Kopf’s blog “Hercules and the Umpire“, launched a little under a year ago, quickly made a splash in the legal world with its unusually candid mix of insights on the judicial process, legal news and personal reflections. On Wednesday, Mr. Kopf announced that he’s hanging up his pajamas and donning only a robe. His decision to quit blogging came a day after his site was featured in a The Wall Street Journal story about how more judges these days are taking to the Internet to pass judgment on policy and opine on trends. In a farewell post, the Nebraska jurist said he was quitting on his own volition. “I am not quitting because of ethics concerns. Such problems are real, but vastly overblown. A thoughtful judge has about the same chance of violating the Code of Conduct when writing a book, giving a speech, authoring a law review article or writing a blog post,” Judge Kopf wrote. “No one has given me the slightest trouble about expressing myself here.” He also said that although he’s “truly worn out,” he’s not quitting for health reasons either. “I have written all that I want to write and then some. It is that simple. My decision is final,” writes the judge. As WSJ’s Joe Palazzolo’s wrote, Judge Kopf’s cerebral commentary — sometimes marked by an almost confessional tone — raised... |
