When Do We Care If Presidents Break “The Law”?
Obviously different people can have different intuitions about this, and ultimately those intuitions may be irreducible, but it seems to me that to answer it helps to unpack why it might be morally wrong to break the law in the first place. A few possibilities occur to me:
- 1: There’s
nothing wrong with breaking the law. As the legal positivists proved,
law and morality are related only coincidentally. It might be wise
to obey the law, if there are folks out there who are likely to punish
you for breaking it, but that’s a question of tactics, not morality.
- 2: Breaking the
law is wrong. Law has some kind of moral authority — either an inherent
one, or one that is contingent on it being part of a generally
legitimate regime. But if there is a generally legitimate regime you
should follow the rules. The person in position #1 is Holmes’s “bad man,” (and by definition bad).
- 3: Government
officials are special. Civilians may have no moral obligation to obey
the law (see #1), but government officials are empowered by
the law, so they are specially obligated to take the bitter with the
sweet. The oath of office operates to convert law into a personal
promise.
- 4: Breaking the
law is dangerous. It’s not inherently wrong, but law is very useful, and
if too many people broke the law, we would have chaos. So even if your
individual violation of the law might accomplish more good than harm,
you should take into [...]
Media relations insights to help communicators navigate the evolving media landscape
November 16, 2012
Top 50 Law Blogs
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| Photo courtesy of Dan4th via flickr |
Law surrounds us daily. It affects all of us, from a politician running for office, to the head of a successful PR firm, to the author of an independent blog who works out of the comfort of her home. The topic has even made its way into a few prior CisionBlog posts, including our piece outlining Twitter’s copyright infringement policy and our Q&A on content publishing and distribution.
In light of this ever-present topic, we ranked the top 50 independent law blogs in North America. The list was created using Cision’s media database and blogs are ranked based on our Cision Influence Rating.
Reaching out to varied audiences, these blogs cover a range of law-related issues. Some offer tips to future law professionals on how to get into law school, while others offer tips to seasoned attorneys on how to keep themselves organized or argue a case. There are blogs that approach law from an outside perspective, offering unbiased updates on recent trials and cases; while others focus on one branch of law and might offer consumers an inside scoop on taxes or copyright.
As I was putting this post together I could not help but think of Scott Baio’s character from Arrested Development. You know Bob Loblaw, the Bluth Family lawyer who shamelessly plugs his blog every chance he gets. Bob Loblaw’s Law Blog… try saying that 10 times in a row. Now, without further ado…
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