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Some More Or Less Tentative Thoughts on Substack

Josh Blackman | 7.30.2026 11:24 AM

I appreciate the emails from readers about my Substack post. I do not read the comments, so if you left something there, and actually want me to see it, email me! Then again, I suspect a fair share of comments are written with full knowledge that I will never see it. So be it.

After reflecting on the responses, I will offer some more or less tentative thoughts.

First, why did I write my post? I could have simply launched a Substack, as others have done, without any explanation. I have several reasons. At the highest level, writing helps me think things through. If I can't state my thesis in a coherent written form, then my thesis doesn't work. Moreover, once I write something down, I've committed myself to it. "Locked in" as they say. But on a deeper level, I feel a kinship with my readers, even though I don't know them. I am fully aware of how many people read my posts. Indeed, it is a strange sensation when I meet people in public who recognize me from the blog. Once I was in an Uber and the driver figured out who I was and told me he watched all of my YouTube videos. We chatted the entire ride about Supreme Court cases. I invited him to my lecture the next day sent him a copy of my most recent book. On the Fourth of July, I visited the National Constitution Center (where else would I go?) and a reader........

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