A thread at Above the Law is devoted to one Teddy B. Gordon, a Louisville lawyer who had his first argument in the Supreme Court today. As Carina has noted before, his . . . unusual style of writing cert. petitions and briefs (his merits brief was 14 pages long) suggested that this was going to be an interesting argument to hear-- and indeed it was. Unlike some Friends of Crescat, I did not make the field trip, but you can listen online here.

Frankly, Gordon did not acquit himself quite as badly as many online seemed to expect he would. His style definitely clashed with-- and sometimes frustrated-- Justices Breyer, Stevens, and Ginsburg, and there were two points where I laughed out loud, but (with Solicitor General Clement's help) I think it is unlikely that his performance hurt his client much.

[The merits? Lyle Denniston thinks that Gordon will win.]

Just to show that Crescat is not some sort of food megaloth, I entirely disagree with Will's (outrageous) claim that American pancakes are overrated. Huge floppy pancakes doused with maple syrup are an objectively superior food. End of story.

Seriously, though, I think they're clearly superior to English or German pancakes, and, on the whole, superior by way of being enormous to French crepes. Of course, if you're not fond of syrup, then I do see the point.

Having said that - pancakes made without leavening (i.e, no baking powder/soda or self rising flour) but with whipped egg white for air are astonishing. I'll make some next weekend, hopefully, and post.

From the New York Times:

In fact, the night before he died, [R.W. Apple] responded to my e-mail message asking where to find a great example of American pancakes: “Just very quickly,” he wrote, “since I don’t have my files here, a thought or two: 1) American pancakes — Overrated, as you say. You might try the Bongo Room, in Wicker Park, north of Chicago.”