January 27, 2014
In Blog
The Supreme Court of California rejected the petition of Stephen Glass to get admitted to the bar. He was the fabulist who made up stories for The New Republic and other magazines before going to law school. Here’s an excerpt from the unanimous opinion:
Martin Peretz, who owned and managed The New Republic at the time of the fabrications, testified on Glass’s behalf and had developed a charitable view of his misconduct by the time of the California State Bar hearing. He blamed himself and, even more, the magazine’s editors for encouraging Glass to write zany, shocking articles and for failing to recognize the improbability of some of Glass’s stories. He found the harm of the scandal to the magazine to be minimal. He had renewed social contact with Glass in the past few years and believed that Glass had been harshly treated. He would not rule out hiring Glass again as a journalist. He explained that in his experience as a professor “[t]he most brilliant students plagiarize,” complaining to the Committee’s counsel, “I actually find your pursuing him an act of stalking.”