BILL HOBBS has an update on the Trummel case. Paul Trummel is being kept in jail for something he said on his website. The judge, King County Superior Court Judge James A. Doerty — who appears to be a blithering idiot who should be removed from the bench immediately for incompetence — says that Trummel doesn’t get First Amendment protection because he isn’t a paid journalist. Funny, I missed that “paid journalist” clause in the First Amendment.

UPDATE: William Sulik objects to my use of the term “blithering idiot” to describe Judge Doerty. He says it’s unfair to blithering idiots worldwide. He suggests instead: “It is clear that Judge Doerty has just ‘stopped watching wrestling because it’s too complicated’ so he needs some other amusement.'”

Well, okay. I want to be fair after all — but this decision is so far outside the zone of reasonableness that it makes me wonder if Judge Doerty ever actually attended law school.