So I asked a couple of days ago: given that the academy is more to the left than the law blogosphere, why is that conservative law professors start blogs more than those on the left?
A graduate of Yale Law School writes with one possible explanation:
"Seems to me the answer is pretty much the same as the explanation for the
prevalence of right-wing talk radio that has always seemed pretty obvious to
me: those using alternative media seek out an audience under-served by the
dominant media. If my time at Yale taught me nothing else, it taught me
that the legal academy caters to left-wing tastes."
And from a right-of-center law professor at a major law school:
"The media and the political system create roughly equal demand for liberal law profs and conservative law profs. Because conservative law profs are relatively rare, the media and the political system put them in greater demand on average than their liberal colleagues. As a result, conservative law profs are more likely to see involvement with politics and public debate as important to their careers, and are more likely to start blogs."
And Leiter (though I don't really disagree with either of the preceding points): Conservative law professors find both (a) a more sympathetic audience outside the academy, and (b) a less intellectually demanding one (the Limbaugh/Hannity crowd etc.). The combination makes it hard to resist blogging, I should think.
UPDATE: And yet another answer from Amy Lamboley here. Time will tell if Ms. Lamboley is right.
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