A brilliant skewering of Alan Dershowitz in the Weekly Standard’s Scrapbook this week by its anonymous author (otherwise known as Richard Starr): “The self-described ‘best-known criminal lawyer in the world,’ ‘top lawyer of last resort,’ and one of America’s ‘most distinguished defenders of individual rights,’ suggested to the senators that they ’should check their egos.’ Then they might realize that a superior way to question Supreme Court nominees like Alito would be to outsource the interrogation to trained professionals. Specifically, Dershowitz–himself a first-rate appellate lawyer with a background in constitutional scholarship–urged Senate Judiciary Committee members to ‘bring in three or four first-rate trial lawyers with backgrounds in constitutional scholarship to ask the hard questions,’ adding, ‘of course Committee members will consult with the litigators to ensure that they cover all the issues of concern to the senators. But during the hearings, the senators’ job will be to listen and then to vote.’ Sounds good to us….”