Posted on 01/13/2006 8:37:23 AM PST by HarvardHater
Here's my next installment looking at Larry Tribe's credibility problem, to put in perspective the credibility problem Ted Kennedy claims Judge Alito has (first 3 installments here, here, and here).
You'll notice in the biographical information included on Tribe in the 2004 conference I mentioned in my last post, where Tribe claimed the New Republic had recently described him as the "premiere Supreme Court litigator of the decade" (not true; nothing like that appears in the New Republic, based on a full-text search going back to 1990), Tribe made a couple of statements about his win-loss record which don't seem to be true, either.
Specifically, this is what Tribe claimed about his record in the biographical information he submitted at that conference in the spring of 2004: "Mr. Tribe is also a leading appellate advocate, having prevailed in around 80 percent of the many U.S. Circuit Court cases he has argued, and in roughly two-thirds of the 35 cases he has argued in the U.S. Supreme Court." (Here.)
Neither statement is true.
According to Wikipedia, Tribe hasn't won 80% of the U.S. Circuit Court cases he's argued. In fact, he's got a losing record (12 losses, 11 wins, 3 draws).
It might seem harder to disprove the vague statement about Tribe supposedly having won "roughly two-thirds of the 35 cases" he's argued in the Supreme Court. However, more specific numbers are readily at hand in the Blogosphere. In the summer of 2004, Tribe's specific win-loss claim in the Supreme Court was set out by law professor Peter Rubin, in introducing Tribe as a speaker at the American Constitution Society conference. He said: "Larry has won 21 of the 35 cases he's argued before the Supreme Court."
Don't believe me -- just click
Of course, winning 21 out of 35 wouldn't mean Tribe had won "roughly two-thirds" of the cases; it would mean he'd won exactly 60% of them. Is math so hard for Tribe he can't divide 21 by 35 and come up with the 60% figure? Or did he say "roughly" to try to puff an asserted 60% win-loss record into the impression of a win-loss record in the 65% to 70% range?
But even those numbers aren't true. According to Wikipedia, as of the summer of 2004, Tribe hadn't even ARGUED 35 Supreme Court cases. He'd only argued 33. And he hadn't won 21 cases. He'd only won 18. Since then Tribe's argued, and lost, one more case, making his record 18 wins, 15 losses, and 2 draws. To use Tribe's terminology, that means he's won only "roughly half" of his cases (more precisely, 54%), not "roughly two-thirds" of them.
If anyone has tips/comments, please write me at harvardhater@ownmail.net. Thanks for the various tips people have offered to date, which I will try to follow up on when I can.
I'm surprised Tribe didn't spend more time chatting it up with Joe Biden.
As First Class Plagiarists, don't they have a lot in common?
If it really is 21 of 35, then you sound petty. 60% is indeed roughly 2/3rds to anyone who doesn't have their panties in a wad.
Now if he is actually 12-11-3, that's a different situation.
Even more fun would be an examination of Ted Kennedy's career at Harvard!
I was amazed that he felt "initial" wasn't covered by 12 YEARS, regarding Judge Alito and Vanguard,
when he surely thought 12 HOURS covered his ass: the time that elapsed between the crash of the Oldsmobile (with Mary Jo Kopechne in it) and his report of the same to the soon-to-be-bought-off Dukes County constabulary.
Moral Giants one and all!
Lawrence "Lost" Tribe. Larry, was that you in the tree taking pictures of little Black children going to a school on Brattle Street in the People's Republic of Cambridge? Horror of horrors!
He's dead to me.
In case you didn't see it, Jonah Goldberg over at NRO posted a link to your thread at 11:59am today, 1/13/06.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/
Mark..FYI..neat piece..this guy does his homework..already been picked up on the NO blog spot..maybe you could/should get it posted/linked on Newsbusters?
Very nice work...mega kudos..can you please ping me the next time you post...regards.
Heh.
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