Because it’s not as if traffic law counts as real law, right? (Howie Carr, “Hillary circling as Obama searches for parking space”, Boston Herald, Mar. 8).
P.S. in response to comments: I think it’s a cultural fact worth recording that the editor of the Harvard Law Review felt no obligation at the time to settle up on a stack of unpaid parking tickets. It’s not wholly unrelated to the phenomenon of attorney general nominees’ not having bothered to tell the IRS about their household employees, or of U.S. Supreme Court justices’ meeting for regular poker nights reputedly in noncompliance with local law: namely, it suggests that sonorous Law Day maxims about the need for each of us to respect the law in its full majesty have surprisingly little traction even in (especially in?) elite law circles. That’s a fact worth knowing, if true.
That Obama is running for president now is the least interesting bit of the story (and indeed is only of significance in that it provided the impetus for him to pay up). Far from being received as an unforgivable blot on his character, I suspect the story will (like his smoking habit) serve to humanize the senator for many voters, perhaps especially among those who, like many readers of this site, have a somewhat rebellious attitude toward law to begin with.
P.P.S. There have apparently been some malfunctions with comments on this entry — if you entered a comment and it didn’t show up within a reasonable time, you might want to email and let us know.
3 Comments
I was under the impression that the criteria for items here was their relevance to the problems caused by the excessive use of the courts and regulation.
This site is usually a blessed oasis of common sense, focusing on these actual issues rather than partisan politics. Knowing that he’s skipped parking fines might be a blot on his character, but it doesn’t shed any light on the issues I come here to learn about.
A piece covering Obama’s likely approach to tort reform and what backing he has from lawyers, now that would be useful. The only thing I know from previous posts is his quote “Anyone who denies there’s a crisis with medical malpractice insurance is probably a trial lawyer”.
I’ve covered Obama’s approach to liability reform at Point of Law.
I agree that the parking-ticket story isn’t anything we should be covering; it reflects more on the Clinton campaign and the politics of personal destruction than on Obama. When we raise issues like this, it gives the left an excuse to shoot down nominees like Estrada or Bolton without legitimate justification.
Boy, I remember applying for the bar here in Illinois, and everyone making a mad scramble to be certain that we didn’t have any outstanding parking tickets or the like.
Guess when you go to Harvard, maybe you’re above all that.