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James J. Kilpatrick has worn half a dozen hats during a long life in the news business. He has been reporter, editor, columnist, commentator, and briefly an adjunct professor of journalism. He regards himself primarily as a writer who functions as a critic of ideas.
Born in Oklahoma in 1920, he began his professional career in 1941 as a reporter for the Richmond, Va., News Leader. In 1949 he succeeded Douglas Southall Freeman as editor of the News Leader's editorial pages.
In 1964 he began writing "A Conservative View." Over the next 28 years, he became the most widely syndicated political columnist in the country. In 1981 he took on a weekly column, "The Writer's Art," on the use and abuse of English. In 1992, seeking a slower pace in semiretirement, he bade farewell to "A Conservative View" and turned to the love of his public life, the U.S. Supreme Court, with a new column called "Covering the Courts." Upward of 200 newspapers have signed on.
Mr. Kilpatrick achieved his 15 minutes of fame during nine years as a debater on "60 Minutes." Over the years he has served as a talking head on "Meet the Press," "Inside Washington," and other television programs. He has written or edited 11 books, including two dealing with the writer's art.
In June 1998, he married syndicated columnist Marianne Means, thus inheriting eight grandchildren to go with his own seven. The newlyweds live in a century-old townhouse in Washington. They both are members of the capital's prestigious Gridiron Club.
He's also a trustee of the Supreme Court Historical Society and a founding trustee of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. He writes frequently in defense of freedom of the press.
It remains to be said only that Mr. Kilpatrick cherishes other honors and high positions. He is No. 1 Pea, Pro Tem., of the Black-Eyed Pea Society of America, an office he voted himself into in 1961. He is the recording secretary of his political party, the True Whig Party, and served as doorkeeper and bartender for the party's last national convention in 1856.
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James J. Kilpatrick (Apr 01, 2007)
The Court of Peeves, Crotchets & Irks opens its April assizes with a motion from Mark Anderson of Hollis, Maine. He seeks an advisory opinion on the distinction between... more
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James J. Kilpatrick (Mar 27, 2007)
When this Case of a Bartered Bride began in November 2001, Hong Yin Gao was only 19 years old. That was when her family sold her to Chen Zhi for the Chinese equivalent of... more
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James J. Kilpatrick (Mar 24, 2007)
Memory fails. A long time ago a popular comic strip thrived upon one gag, endlessly repeated: Two mischievous little boys throw snowballs at a pompous old fellow in a high... more
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James J. Kilpatrick (Mar 20, 2007)
Late on a January afternoon five years ago, Benetta Wilson was driving her 1997 Ford Explorer on Interstate 8 a few miles east of San Diego. A tragic accident left her a... more
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James J. Kilpatrick (Mar 17, 2007)
If the English language were not so maddening, it wouldn't be nearly so much fun -- but maddening it often is, and we're talking subtleties today.
In January, The... more
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James J. Kilpatrick (Mar 16, 2007)
Late on the night of March 19, 2004, Earl Eckelberry was driving along Route 50-E near Parkersburg, W.Va. His car left the highway and crashed into an illegally parked... more
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James J. Kilpatrick (Mar 10, 2007)
"Speak the speech, I pray you," said Hamlet to his Players, "as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue ..."
The melancholy Dane thus provided a text for... more
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James J. Kilpatrick (Mar 06, 2007)
Without a murmur of comment or dissent, the Supreme Court last week effectively affirmed a sentence of life imprisonment imposed upon an Arizona man for possession of 20... more
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James J. Kilpatrick (Jan 24, 2007)
Justice Clarence Thomas stayed mum, as usual, but all eight of
his colleagues got into the act two weeks ago when the Supreme
Court heard argument in the case of a... more
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James J. Kilpatrick (Jan 23, 2007)
Yes, it is true that every standard dictionary informs us that "since" may be employed in the sense of "because." I beg you, fergit it!
What the usual suspects do not say... more
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James J. Kilpatrick (Jan 16, 2007)
Of the making of First Amendment cases, said the Preacher,
there shall be no end. Ecclesiastes was talking, resignedly,
about Case No. 06-157 in the Supreme Court. The... more
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James J. Kilpatrick (Jan 03, 2007)
Two petitions are now pending in the Supreme Court that once
again raise the issue of misconduct by police. Would you vote to
hear the cases?
These were the facts... more
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James J. Kilpatrick (Jan 02, 2007)
The Court of Peeves, Crotchets and Irks opens its winter
assizes with a motion from Edward Miller of Chicago. He asks the
court to ban the use of "to replace" when the... more