In the wake of my friend Judge Richard A. Posner’s review of the Scalia–Garner book Reading Law—a review that accused Justice Scalia and me of manifold distortions and errors despite our extensive fact-checking—I retained a respected San Francisco lawyer, Steven A. Hirsch, to investigate and assess these allegations.
The purpose was to have an independent examination of the extent to which there was any merit in what Judge Posner had said. I arranged this project without Justice Scalia’s knowledge in the belief that our second edition would benefit from Hirsch’s guidance about any changes that might prove necessary or desirable.
Hirsch received a very modest honorarium of $500, which he later informed me he turned over to his firm to offset expenses. I chose Hirsch because he had been among the most critical reviewers of our book manuscript, and I knew him to be honest, thorough, and fair.
I asked him to be dispassionate and impartial and to report his findings unflinchingly. You can judge for yourself whether he met that standard. Click here to see the Hirsch report.
Bryan A. Garner
