Joan Larsen

Joan Larsen was appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court on September 30, 2015. Since then -- well over a year -- she has apparently written only four straightforward opinions (most taking more than five months), only three terse dissents, and one short statement of recusal. None of these mentioned abortion.

Prior to that she was a law professor, an occupation that typically requires prolific writing and publications. However, instead of publishing several articles a year, as many professors do, she merely published an article every few years, and sometimes with a more capable co-author. See, e.g., Steven G. Calabresi & Joan L. Larsen, One Person, One Office: Separation of Powers or Separation of Personnel?, 79 Cornell L. Rev. 1045 (1994); .

Joan Larsen's own work has been few and far between. She published a "comment" in 1993, COMMENT: Of Propensity, Prejudice, and Plain Meaning: The Accused's Use of Exculpatory Specific Acts Evidence and the Need to Amend Rule 404(b)., 87 Nw. U.L. Rev. 651 (Winter 1993), and an article in 2004, Importing Constitutional Norms from a "Wider Civilization": Lawrence and the Rehnquist Court's Use of Foreign and International Law in Domestic Constitutional Interpretation, 65 Ohio L.J. 1283 (2004). In between that decade-long period she authored a mere book review, Constitutionalism Without Courts? Taking the Constitution Away from the Courts, 94 Nw. U.L. Rev. 983 (Spring, 2000). This meager volume of writing makes David Souter look like William Shakespeare in comparison.

The problem, of course, is that the potentiality of harsh criticism by the liberal media would compel a "Justice Larsen" on the U.S. Supreme Court to shift leftward in order to mute the criticism, as David Souter did.

Justice Scalia could withstand the liberal media because he was a prolific writer. Larsen is not.