Image of part of cover of the new issue of the Green Bag.

In the mail.

For those who aren’t familiar with the latter term, Candlemas is “a Christian Holy Day commemorating the presentation of Jesus at the Temple. It is based upon the account of the presentation of Jesus in Luke 2:22-40.” The celebration, held on February 2, involves a mass to which congregants bring candles to be blessed and then used for the rest of the winter.23 According to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, that celebration evolved to one involving weather prediction, as reflected in an old English folk song: If Candlemas be fair and bright, Come, Winter, have another flight; If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, Go Winter, and come not again.24 This tradition eventually made its way to Germany, where they introduced a hedgehog seeing its shadow as the bellwether of the weather.25 And — again, according to the Groundhog Club — when German settlers came to America and found it lacking for hedgehogs, they settled on the closest hibernating mammal at hand and thus we have Groundhog Day.26 Given that context, it seems likely that Shiras used the word “ignorant” to mean “uninformed,” and was simply describing people who still called the holiday “Candlemas Day” as uninformed of the superior tradition involving groundhogs.27

A few years ago I wrote this short article for @thegreenbag.bsky.social which has some fun explanation about the history of Groundhog Day. A sample below but you really need to read the whole thing with the footnotes and everything
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The @thegreenbag.bsky.social Justice Scalia bobblehead, as you probably know, has him stabbing a pencil into a Lemon per his Lamb's Chapel concurrence. (And, of course, "this wolf comes as a wolf," per Morrison v Olson.) greenbag.org/v8n4/v8n4_ex...

Thanks @thegreenbag.bsky.social !

Always a good day when the latest issue of the @thegreenbag.bsky.social arrives. And extra good when there’s a little something extra.

a man in a suit and tie with glasses says yes ALT: a man in a suit and tie with glasses says yes

(just me all by myself). babe wake up a new @thegreenbag.bsky.social puzzle just arrived!

Label of Southern Select's obvious ripoff of Schlitz's label (also pictured)

Years ago I wrote this hilarious article about how Justice Holmes did the makers of Schlitz dirty when he rejected the company's trademark claim against Southern Select beer, but for some reason @thegreenbag.bsky.social rejected it.

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Cover of the spring 2025 issue of the Green Bag.

Sooner.

Disassembled Green Bag jigsaw puzzle accompanied by a card showing one horse saying "Spoiler Alert!" to another horse.

Soon.

The print edition of the 2025 Green Bag Almanac & Reader goes into the mail next week. The "Exemplary Legal Writing" lists are here: greenbag.org/almanacs/GB/...

Well (it is *not* an easy jigsaw puzzle) done and attractively done!

"Reporting Gerrymanders" #ELB Ross Davies has written this fun article for The Green Bag. Here is the abstract: Over the past 80 years or so, maps have appeared in many (but not all) of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions involving...

“Reporting Gerrymanders” electionlawblog.org?p=149692

Green Bag Gerrymandering puzzle

Accompanying puzzle @thegreenbag.bsky.social by the indefatigable Ross Davies

front cover of the new issue of the Green Bag

The latest GB2d is in the mail, with a small something extra for extravagant subscribers.

Well done JF&HE! In the same spirit, we'd like to think: "Citations should be accurate and unobtrusive. Authors may use any form they like. We do edit to keep footnotes from looking like goulash."

A great judge, a true wordsmith, and an author any editor would enjoy working with.

I **ADORE** this little article from Green Bag by a federal judge explaining how he first coined a word and then worked to use it in an opinion so it could make it into Black's Law Dictionary greenbag.org/v13n2/v13n2_...

@thegreenbag.bsky.social Bobblehead Chief Justice Roberts visited Constitutional Law today. We talked about his opinion in the Affordable Care Act case. He is holding broccoli, which was a key part of the opinion. 🥦

Adam Flaherty and Daniel B. Listwa — on a fascinating instance of a problem in statutory interpretation — in our latest issue: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The new issue of the Green Bag is in the mail. It includes New York Court of Appeals Judge (ret.) Albert M. Rosenblatt's play about New York's ratification of the U.S. Constitution. You can watch the first public performance here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2-C...

Advertisement for the Green Bag, with pictures of some things that are for sale, and some that are not.

Are you wondering what kind of gift might make a lawyer happy? Maybe something that's often interesting, sometimes amusing, and occasionally uplifting: A subscription to The Green Bag. greenbag.org/subscription...

Elena Kagan bobblehead from The Green Bag

Drawing inspiration from my @thegreenbag.bsky.social Justice Kagan bobblehead as I finish up some pre-holiday writing.

Photograph of the cover of the Green Bag's latest book, titled "Re-readings 9"

Our latest goes in the mail next week.

Advertisement for the Green Bag, with pictures of some things that are for sale, and some that are not.

Are you wondering what kind of gift might make a lawyer happy? Maybe something that's often interesting, sometimes amusing, and occasionally uplifting: A subscription to The Green Bag. greenbag.org/subscription...

Cover of our latest issue.

critics, connoisseurs, scholars, flaneurs, and bon vivants -- The Green Bag @thegreenbag.bsky.social has entered the room / www.greenbag.org