Legal Commentary

Last night, I watched the first episode -- "Join or Die" -- of the HBO mini-series, "John Adams."  (The series is based on the popular David McCullough biography.)   Paul Giamatti -- an excellent actor, in my view -- plays Adams, and Laura Linney plays Abigail Adams.  I've been looking forward to the series ever since I first heard about it and, so far, I'm not disappointed.

Last night's episode focused on Adams's role as a defense lawyer for British soldiers charged in connection with the 1770 Boston Massacre.  There were more than enough stirring "rule of law" and "importance of zealous counsel for the accused" moments to justify recommending the episode to first-year law students.  The episode ended with a dramatic speech on "liberty" by Adams (in a church), and with his departure for (I gather) the First Continental Congress.   So far, the show seems to be doing a good job of highlighting Adams's struggle to keep-in-balance his "conservative" (that is, his unease-with-revolution) instincts with his "liberty" commitments.  I'm looking forward to more!  Any other reactions?