Law Dork, six months on

More than 6,600 subscribers in six months. Now, an end-of-year ask: Please consider a paid subscription.

Six months ago, I started my Law Dork newsletter — the third iteration of a blog that I began in law school 20 Supreme Court terms ago.

In those six months, more than 6,600 people have subscribed to Law Dork — a full one-third more than my initial goal of having 5,000 subscribers in the first six months.

Thank you all so much for joining me on this journey — at a time when I quickly saw how important it was that I be writing from this platform and with this freedom to pursue the stories that I think need more coverage. The independent, accountability-based journalism that Law Dork has advanced has already made a difference — because of all of you who are reading and sharing and engaging with this work.

Now, as the year comes to a close, I need you to consider a paid subscription if you can do so.

In the first six months at Law Dork, I have covered the Supreme Court’s ascendant views of religious supremacy and its handling of the “independent state legislature” scheme, as well as its ethics questions. I reported on the legal and real-life developments that followed the high court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade. I have covered Trump-related legal news. I have investigated the actions of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in depth — and challenged lazy narratives of him. I have tracked death penalty and criminal justice developments and developments of interest to LGBTQ people and allies.

Every newsletter — this is the 65th — has an open rate of more than 50%, with most over 55% and many approaching or at 60%. That’s a tremendous number that continues to thrill me.

Law Dork has been cited in The Washington Post, among many other publications; I have appeared on CNN and MSNBC; and I have written for The New York Times, MSNBC, and Bolts in that time. I have appeared on several podcasts and radio shows and have been interviewed by journalists for their own publications.

It’s going well. Really well. Better than I ever could have imagined six months ago. I am loving doing this, and I can see a path in which it actually works for the long term.

That said, I want to be completely transparent. It will, eventually, come down to money, and I am going to need more of you to take your subscription up a step to a paid subscription. Or, if you’ve been putting off subscribing at all, consider a paid subscription to do so.

It’s $6 a month, or $60 a year, for 10-12 (or more when called for) newsletters a month, covering what I believe are some of the most important legal and political stories out there. Importantly, I focus my coverage on areas where I have the background and knowledge to be able to make informed assessments of what’s going on. And where I know who to talk with about what’s happening. That’s what my coverage has always been, and that’s what Law Dork always aims to be.

I could do more to encourage paid subscriptions — and will if I need to do so — but I really do want to keep all of the reporting and analysis that I’m doing here available to everyone for free. Any of you who have followed my work know that having work — and documents — accessible to everyone is truly, foundationally important to me.

To continue doing that, I need your help. People who are are able to pay, please consider doing so. If you’ve been reading and relying on my work, a paid subscription to close out the year would be so appreciated.

I’m setting an end-of-the-year goal for 100 new paid subscribers, so please help to make it happen if you can afford to do so.

And, most of all, thanks for reading.