Is This What We’re Coming To?

Intriguing set of photos, wouldn’t you agree? On the left is Floyd Abrams, probably the country’s leading First Amendment lawyer. In the middle is former SNL contributor and current senator Al Franken. And on the right, a random chimp. Here’s a piece describing an exchange Senator Franken had with Mr. Abrams at a Senate hearing recently.

Mr. Abrams was testifying on the issue of campaign finance. Mr. Abrams has taken the position that restrictions on campaign finance violate the First Amendment. But at the hearing, Senator Franken disclosed that Mr. Abrams had represented him in a dispute with Fox News some time back. Fox News sued Franken (he was not yet a Senator) for an alleged trademark infringement arising from Franken’s book entitled “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.”   

Franken and Abrams got the suit dismissed, with the judge saying the suit was “wholly without merit.” At the hearing this week, Abrams asked Franken if he recalled what Franken had said after the case. Franken told Abrams “Even a chimp could have won that case.” 

Clients. Even when you win they’re hard to please. Why didn’t Franken tell him this?