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Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at davidlat@substack.com. This is a reader-supported publication; you can subscribe by clicking here. Thanks! Here’s my promised magnum opus on the Supreme Court clerk hiring controversy that everyone is talking about: Justice Clarence Thomas’s hiring of Crystal Clanton, announced last week by her alma mater, Scalia Law.

Last Monday night, after a full day of work and volunteering at my church’s weekly bingo, and a number of weird and wild coincidences, I decided to shoot my shot and send out an email to Murphy Karges. Most people are probably not familiar with the name Murphy Karges. ncG1vNJzZmismJqvs7XAp6Oepp6ku7S0zrBlrK2SqMGir8pnmqilX6V8orqMqKeepl2hsrXAxKtkraddosKzvMeyZKSZopyytA%3D%3D

Those of us who have experienced an era and lived to tell the tale are often guilty of over-romanticizing our recollections of how much more awesome things used to be “back in the day,” but with a bit of effort, we discover that it is possible to look back on our lives, acknowledge the imperfections of the past, and still find considerable enjoyment in the memories that we have accumulated.If the preceding sentence doesn’t serve as a sufficient explanation as to why in God’s name anyone would want to put together an oral history of the short-lived superhero action/comedy series Misfits of Science, which NBC aired for a sum total of 16 episodes between October 1985 and February 1986, then let’s try this instead: for a 15-year-old kid who had a limited social life and cared more about comic books than classic literature, it was, for five brief months, the greatest TV series this side of The Greatest American Hero…and, as a result, I’ve never forgotten it.

It was 1996 and Aaron Spelling had done just about everything. The 76-year-old prolific producer, known for putting primetime soap dramas like Dynasty, Melrose Place, and Beverly Hills, 90210 on the map, was about to make a splash into daytime of his own. American soap operas were beginning to wane in the ratings in the age of O.J. Simpson’s murder trial. Creating a new one would be a massive feat, even for Spelling.

So, you’re interested in becoming a spinster?  Well, there’s more to it than meets the eye. It’s not only about the lack of a marriage partner. It’s also about saying sayonara to your fucks, embracing authenticity, and living the kind of life you always knew you were meant to lead but were never shown how to live.  Being a spinster means that you’re following in the footsteps of badass women who weren’t afraid to buck oppressive gender norms and forge their own path.

The Brian’s Song of baseball. That’s a label you could place on the 1973 movie Bang the Drum Slowly, which starred Robert De Niro and Michael Moriarty and came out two years after the James Caan-Billy Dee Williams football tearjerker premiered on ABC. It’s not a perfect comparison, though. For one, it undersells Bang the Drum Slowly to suggest that it is belongs in another film’s category. Not to mention that its origin story goes back farther, dating back to the Mark Harris novel from the 1950s.

Greetings angels (and demons)! Hanukkah is officially over, so this is maybe a strange time for me to be writing a “gift guide,” but whatever. This is also *not like the other gift guides* in that there are no god damn links! This is a handful of ideas for things to make and/or procure inexpensively for your loved ones for Christmas or New Year’s or Valentine’s Day or Belated Hanukkah or Birthday or Just Because.

Welcome to So Many Thoughts, a semi-weekly newsletter about royal style and the other parts of life I want to think through with you. You cansubscribe here and follow me on Instagram at@EHolmes. Thank you! While I was in London last week, I squeezed in one non-Jubilee excursion: a trip to Sotheby’s to see the Spencer Tiara as part of the exhibition, Power & Image: Royal & Aristocratic Tiaras. A bit more on the infamous piece, and what it was like to see it up-close, below.

I realize this post is very ill timed, what with the highly anticipated reports on SVB and Signature Bank expected to be released later today. Nonetheless, I thought I would send it out now for those interested. For those not interested or at least not interested today, there is nothing time-sensitive in here, so feel free to return to this later. Look out for posts later today or tomorrow on the actual news of the day.