I‘m not a lawyer (though a few of my best friends are). But I gather there’s an old legal dictum that goes: If you can’t argue the facts, argue the law. If you can’t argue the law, argue the facts. If you can’t argue the law or the facts, blow smoke.
If you want to see some really high-class smoke being blown, it’s worth taking a look at the recent statement signed by a bunch of Republican lawyers defending liberal lawyers now working at the Justice Department who’d previously represented or advocated for terrorist detainees. Nameless straw men (including me) and women (Liz Cheney) are subject to name-calling–“shameful,” “unjust,” and “destructive” appear in the first paragraph alone. In all three paragraphs of the lawyers’ letter, highfalutin generalities are generally and highfalutinly invoked. The self-esteem and self-importance of lawyers are much in evidence. The only thing missing is an actual argument.
