Beware Kooks Bearing Baked Goods

Critics sometimes contend that Supreme Court justices (and most appellate judges, in particular) are too far removed from the real world to appreciate the practical consequences of their opinions. I'm not saying that's true, but these comments by former Justice O'Connor sort of bolster that perception. It seems that in April 2005, a Connecticut woman sent threatening letters with baked goods in them to various government officials, including all nine Justices. Turns out the goodies were laced with large amounts of rat poison. This was largely overlooked until O'Connor talked about the incident this year:

'Every member of the Supreme Court received a wonderful package of home-baked cookies, and I don't know why, (but) the staff decided to analyze them,' the Fort Worth Star-Telegram quoted O'Connor as saying at the legal conference November 10 in the Dallas area.

Um, gee, could the staff's suspicions have been raised because every member of the Supreme Court received a wonderful package of home-baked cookies?!?!? That's the kind of thing that would send my bullshit detector right off the chart! But, then again, maybe I'm more in touch with the real world (or simply more cynical) than the Justices.