"In other words, maybe the First Amendment is a lion, and the Fourth Amendment is a grizzly bear..."

"... but the Letters of Marque and Reprisal Clause is like an Egyptian Plover (because, like the plover, who eats bits of food out of a crocodile’s teeth, the M & R Clause is really interesting because of its relationship to another part of the Constitution — the Declare War Clause — rather than being interesting for itself). Or the Third Amendment is a potential coelocanth (a prehistoric fish that scientists thought was extinct until they found one in 1938) because although right now it does nothing, maybe one day it will suddenly be found again and prove to be important. So, anyway, if the Public Debt Clause were an animal, what animal would it be? I’m not sure. Love to hear your thoughts though. "

Jay Wexler takes a sidelong look at the recent emergence of interest in the Public Debt Clause.

"Obama Signs Patriot Act Extension with Autopen..."

"... Odd Clauses Watch Gets Hundreds of Hits."

Wyomans? Wyomeroonies? Wymerrhymerbingbangs?

Cheneys?

You decide!

"I don't really care what the students call me: 'Jay,' 'Wex,' 'Jaywex,' 'the Wexmeister'..."

Is Jay Wexler only saying that because his name happens to produce snappy nicknames? We're not all that lucky.

I agree with Wexler's view that the lawprof should call students by their first names. But does that mean students must call the professor by his or her first name? I think not. Does that seem unfairly unequal? I just said don't call the professor by his or her first name. You can use the all-purpose "first name" for a professor: Professor. Sample dialogue:

Hi, Joe.

Hi, Professor.

See?

Oddly -- as you may know -- I dislike being called by my first name -- by anyone. I don't even think of myself by my first name. Frankly, I don't even consider it a name. ← See? I had to write "it."

ADDED: Jay Wexler is just visiting at the linked blog. His regular blog is Holy Hullabaloos, and that's also the title of an interesting-looking book he has coming out next spring:

In the fall of 2007, I spent about six months traveling to all sorts of interesting places where big church-state Supreme Court cases came from. I wanted to visit the people who were involved in the cases and see the places where they actually happened. I went to an Amish farm, a high school football game in East Texas, the U.S. Senate, a community of really Orthodox Jews in New York State, a Santeria get-together in South Florida, and downtown Cleveland. Inspired by books like Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation, Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself to Live, and Steve Almond's Candyfreak, my book will tell the story of this trip while also explaining the basics of church-state law and making jokes.

Cool.