Posted on 12/24/2025 10:47:55 AM PST by DFG
NPR has a resolution for 2026: Stop quoting University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias.
Tobias “appears 77 times on NPR’s website, and seems to be a dial-a-quote for NPR and numerous other media outlets on a very wide range of topics,” NPR’s standards chief, Tony Cavin, reportedly complained in an email sent to staff. That email — subject reading “GUIDANCE: Don’t I know you from somewhere?” — was shared with Semafor.
Tobias’ “hobby seems to be getting himself quoted about anything and everything in news stories,” the email reads. “He is often quoted by wire services and as a result his name is likely familiar even to readers of The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong.”
Tobias’ name may be familiar to loyal readers of the Daily Caller, too. He’s been quoted no less than five times by the Daily Caller News Foundation, most recently in 2019, usually on matters related to judicial appointments.
The professor “often emails reporters offering his expert opinion on stories of the day and while I don’t presume to judge his expertise in legal matters, the professor is certainly an expert in getting himself quoted,” Cavin reportedly wrote. “In many of these quotes he’s described as an ‘expert’ in whatever the story happens to be about. As with other claims, I think we should exercise a healthy skepticism and do our best to find alternate sources going forward.”
Can’t stop thinking about this. From what I can tell Carl Tobias is a successful law professor, but as a hobby spam emails news outlets his opinions on random topics in hopes he gets quoted. The quotes are always pretty banal. There are so many ways to live life https://t.co/aRaLqUoS0Z
— cold 🥑 (@coldhealing) December 22, 2025
“Tobias casts his net far and wide, from California to the New York Island. And it’s not just on the coasts, he’s quoted by outlets across the country including The Minneapolis Star Tribune [,] The Fresno Bee, the Beaver County Times in Western PA, the Superior Telegram in Duluth MN, and even the Chronicle in the New York City suburb of Croton-on-Hudson, population 8,300,” the email continues, before proposing that “as a collective New Year’s resolution we give the professor some (well deserved) time off.”
There have been Carl Tobiases before Carl Tobias, commenters pointed out.
Ann Coulter noted, in 2003, that a New York Times (NYT) piece on “Hillary-mania” hinged on the testimony of a Gregory F. Packer.
“I’m a big fan of Hillary and Bill’s. I want to change her mind about running for president. I want to be part of her campaign,” Packer reportedly told the outlet.
“It was easy for the Times to spell Packer’s name right because he is apparently the entire media’s designated ‘man’ on the street’ for all articles ever written. He has appeared in news stories more than 100 times as a random member of the public. Packer was quoted on his reaction to military strikes against Iraq; he was quoted at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Veterans Day Parade. He was quoted at not one — but two — New Year’s Eve celebrations at Times Square. He was quoted at the opening of a new ‘Star Wars’ movie, at the opening of an H&M clothing store on Fifth Avenue and at the opening of the viewing stand at Ground Zero. He has been quoted at Yankees games, Mets games, Jets games — even getting tickets for the Brooklyn Cyclones. He was quoted at a Clinton fund-raiser at Alec Baldwins house in the Hamptons and the pope’s visit to Giants stadium.”
Packer was eventually profiled by the NYT in his own right. Packer is the “perfect grass-roots source” who “usually gets his name in the paper simply by showing up. He also has a predilection for being first in line.”
There’s a lesson there.
Author’s note: I’ve reached out to Tobias for comment and eagerly await his expert response.
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Paging Greg Packer.
Would have been okay to consult Carnac the Magnificent from the old Johnny Carson Tonight Show, though.
What a joke they are.. and lazy. Who’s sleeping with this guy? Holidays in Puerto Rico on taxpayer dime? SOP
Maybe he’s on retainer.
Should be in the disclosures, yes?
He’s finally going to get the media attention he’s been craving
https://fedsoc.org/bio/carl-tobias
Professor Carl Tobias holds the Law School’s prestigious Williams Chair and writes in a number of areas, with a particular emphasis on federal judicial selection. A prolific scholar, Professor Tobias is the author of over 120 law review articles and the author or co-author of more than 80 essays, commentaries, and other shorter works in law reviews. He has published in the country’s top law journals, including the Stanford, Columbia, California, and Cornell Law Reviews, among others. Professor Tobias is also a frequent commentator in the media and has written several hundred opinion pieces published in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Slate and Politico, among other high-profile media outlets. He has served as a Legal Consultant to the Food and Drug Administration and the American Bar Association’s Commission on the Twenty-First Century Judiciary as well as a member of the District Court Local Rules Review Committee of the Ninth Circuit Chief District Judges Conference, the Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Group for the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, and the Study Committee to Review the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure. Professor Tobias has been a member of the prestigious American Law Institute since 1994.
Carl Tobias is an EXPERT [in furry fashion].
Its their go to “law professor” who is a democrap party zombie hack.
“prestigious”
Before them all was Zelig.
Before them all was Zelig.
I’m guessing Carl Tobias voted for Kamala Harris.
This is the entire model of modern liberal “journalism”. Write an opinion piece with that reaches the conclusion that you want it to reach. Then call up a list of friendly sources and “experts” to give you quotes that provide a false factual cover for the opinion. Instead of running the story in the opinion column, you can run it in the “news” section of your liberal rag or liberal propaganda TV or radio station.
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