It's no secret that competent, expert legal advice is expensive. There are lots of jokes about lawyers charging fees based on the "billable hour" - which might be as short as ten minutes, depending on how the attorney in question defines it - and those hours don't come cheap. After all, lawyers are trained specialists in an arcane subject that few of us understand but all of us live under. You wouldn't want a PhD microbiologist to repair your computer, would you?
Although I despise the legal profession in general as a result both of bad personal experience and the demonstrated venality of lawyers serving the ill bidding of Der Furor, I understand that lawyers are a necessary evil. What really bothers me at this point in time is the cost of the law - on both sides - to the nation.
Since Der Furor took office on January 20th of this year, courts across the country have been buried under an avalanche of lawsuits, countersuits, appeals, appeals of appeals, and general legal detritus. Much of it consists of various litigants suing to counter the worst excesses of Der Furor and his quasi-governmental DOGE entity, and much of the rest of it consists of the Orange Airhorn's long-recognized practice of dragging out every legal challenge until everyone involved is either broke or dies of old age. The Lawfare website actually has a [Der Furor] Administration Litigation Tracker to
"... track legal challenges to the [Der Furor] administration’s executive actions that deal with national security issues, as well as cases on behalf of the [Der Furor] administration to enforce them."
When I began drafting this post on the morning of May 30th, the tracker listed 324 separate lawsuits filed either against or by the administration. May 30th was the 150th day of 2025 and the 119th day of Der Furor's presidency ... meaning that for each of those 119 days, an average of 2.7 legal actions has been initiated. Consider what this means ...
Each of these lawsuits is being argued by platoons of lawyers on each side. Each of those lawyers is, of course, being paid*. Those on the government side are being paid by you and I through our taxes, and are probably being paid less than they could make in private practice. Those on the other side are being paid for by individuals and groups opposed to the actions of the administration. According to US News, the average annual salary for an attorney in the United States in 2025 is $145,760.
Think for a moment about the amount of money being spent on all those lawyers chasing all those lawsuits across the length and breadth of government. Think for a moment about the amount of time courts at all levels are tied in knots with suits, countersuits, motions, appeals, appeals of appeals, or whatever. What does that mean for the availability of court time for an average American seeking legal recourse? And what does it mean for the money that could have been spent on things like education, public health, protection of citizens from predatory commercial actors, the scientific research for which the United States used to be renowned, etc, etc?
I could write more, but I'm too disgusted, and I think you should be, too.
Demand more of your government but - under this administration - expect less, at higher cost.
Have a good day. More thoughts coming.
Bilbo
* Unless they work for one of the law firms blackmailed by royal decree executive order, now forced to do pro bono work for Der Furor.
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