Welcome!

With more 14,000 total subscribers and more than 140 posts in 11 months, Law Dork has quickly established itself as a go-to source for legal reporting and analysis about some of the biggest news stories of our day, from the Supreme Court to trial courts. In addition to wide-ranging coverage of the courts, Law Dork is regularly ahead of the curve on stories relating to LGBTQ issues and criminal justice questions due to my longtime expertise in those areas.

From this perch, I’ve broken major legal news across the country and from the Biden administration, analyzed litigation and arguments at the Supreme Court and elsewhere, interviewed lawyers involved in some of the key issues reaching the courts, tracked the unprecedented wave of anti-transgender legislation across the country, covered a national bill-signing, and much more.

For the past dozen years, I’ve been one of the key reporters in the country covering the Supreme Court — analyzing arguments and decisions, reporting on vacancies and appointments, and helping people to understand the behind-the-scenes developments that have changed the court.

Now, I’m doing that — and so much more — here. Join the thousands of people who already have Law Dork to help them traverse the complex legal landscape of 2023 by subscribing now.

Law Dork in the media — and at your event

In conjunction with publishing Law Dork, I am often asked by others to discuss the topics that I cover on their shows and at their events.

In my time as national journalist, I’ve been a guest on TV and radio and podcasts — including on CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. I’ve served as a panelist, moderator, and guest speaker at conferences and events across the country, from universities to businesses to nonprofit organizations.

I am asked to talk about the Supreme Court and its cases and justices, the law and related political and policy questions, and LGBTQ and criminal justice issues. I also am often asked to discuss the media landscape.

To book me on your show or bring me to your event to speak or participate in a panel discussion, please email me.

How did I get here?

I’m Chris Geidner (obviously), and I’ve been writing or in journalism, in one form or another, for nearly the past 25 years. I’ve been recognized with national awards for my reporting, including winning a GLAAD Media Award and being named NLGJA’s Journalist of the Year.

Back in early 2000, I began my first full-time journalism job, working as a copy editor at a local newspaper in Warren, Ohio. In 2003, I started blogging at Law Dork while in law school — a decision that enmeshed me in the online world and ultimately led me here today. In the time since, I’ve written thousands of posts, articles, columns, and more reporting on and analyzing some of the biggest issues of the past 20 years. In my work, I’ve done my best to share my understanding of the legal and political questions that have confronted us and — most importantly — tell the stories I’ve found.

I spent a significant amount of that time as the legal editor and Supreme Court correspondent at BuzzFeed News. I’ve also written for The New York Times and MSNBC, among other national publications, and worked at Metro Weekly, The Appeal, and Grid News. I’ve appeared on CNN and MSNBC, among other stations and shows, to discuss the Supreme Court. As part of that work, I often have covered the ins and outs of state and local developments with extensive, in-depth beat reporting. I spent two years working wholly on criminal legal issues, helping to educate myself on the complex set of issues and decision-makers that fuel our carceral system.

I’ve conducted interviews with some of the biggest newsmakers in the world, including former President Barack Obama and many Cabinet members, lawmakers, and state officials. My Twitter feed has been a must-read space for legal and political news for more than a decade.

Before all of that, I practiced law in Ohio, both for a private firm and state government. I even worked at a newspaper in Warren, Ohio, for two years before going to law school.

What should you expect from Law Dork?

With my newsletter, I’m bringing together the many lessons I’ve learned over the past two decades, including my time in law school and as a practicing lawyer, to help make sense of the world today — an uncertain time with important consequences for the way we live our lives and the way our government operates.

This period is pivotal to the way our legal system, our politicians, and, ultimately, our country operate.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority has long been hostile to voting rights and deferential to business interests, but the 6-3 supermajority of conservative justices have gone into overdrive — with five (and sometimes six) justices willing to take a reactionary turn, upending established fundamental rights and unsettling previously settled law. Our country has increasingly had to question the stability of our democracy. Many of these problems existed before the Trump presidency but were, again, pushed into overdrive by the politics that Donald Trump unleashed. We are seeing a growing racist and anti-LGBTQ environment building alongside — and intertwined — with that.

This reality — most prominently signified by the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022 — means great upheaval. These changes will be seen at the federal level, but also in state government, in state and federal courts, from local prosecutors and police, and in people’s day-to-day lives. Abortion is being criminalized in large swaths of the country. Transgender people are being targeted.

This newsletter will cover those developments and more by highlighting what’s happening, talking with the key decision-makers and those working to influence them, examining stories others are missing, and analyzing what matters and why.

I need your help.

I want to do this independently. I want to write about what I think matters and why and talk with the people who I think are essential to understanding what’s happening. And I want to do so in a way that will allow this to be my full-time job.

That means I need subscribers and, ultimately, it means I need paid subscribers.

If you’ve followed my work over any of the past 20 years, you know that I am upfront and honest about who I am and what I’m doing. Now is the time for me to do this — but I need your help.

Subscribe to get most of my content, but pay if you can do so to make this possible for the long term.

What if you’d like to do more to support my work?

Taking a page from others, I would certainly be open to more substantial financial support for this work. Please email me.

To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.