Scruggs Nation, Day 29

I continue on vacation through next Wednesday, but will post this week when I can. For now, just a short post on the Wall Street Journal's editorial yesterday (subscription only). The editorial posits an unholy alliance between state law enforcement officials and certain members of the plaintiff's bar:This Mississippi Tort Inc. enterprise began in the 1990s, when former Attorney General Mike Moore sued tobacco companies and contracted out the lawsuit to his old law school buddy, Mr. Scruggs. Their nicknames were Scro and Mo. Mr. Scruggs's firm is estimated to have earned nearly $1 billion in fees; Mr. Moore became a movie hero ("The Insider").It is a seductive business model, and these days a crew of tort kingpins known as the Pascagoula Mafia show up in nearly ev