Back on the Record (Since Google Has Destroyed Blogging)
Why I’m returning to Substack, what you've missed on my blog, and where we’re going from here.
Welcome (back) to Probable Cause — my legal Substack, home of criminal defense commentary, critical thinking, and occasionally uncomfortable truths.
If you’ve ever followed me, you know that I’ve blogged for years, mostly on my Probable Cause blog at RHDefense. Probable Cause: The Legal Blog with the Really Low Standard of Review has always been my space to write long-form: essays on legal reform, judicial decisions, AI in the courtroom, prosecutorial overreach, and the daily reality of defending people the system would prefer to forget.
But lately, blogging has changed.
What Happened to Blogging?
To put it bluntly: Google broke it. The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg has been killed. Google boiled it down into AI slop.
It used to be that if you wrote something thoughtful and timely, it would gain traction. People found it. Judges read it. Lawyers shared it. Clients stumbled onto it and decided to call.
Aside: I filed an amicus brief once. Immediately prior to doing so, I wrote a blog post about the issues involved. The judge had asked me to write the amicus brief, but then didn’t see it. At the hearing, he asked me about it and I told him I filed it. He asked, “Was it the same argument you made on your blog?” I said, “Yes, but with the citations and proper legal style.” He said, “We’ll take a short recess. I’m going to go find it.” When he made his ruling, it tracked my argument. But the point here is, a judge was reading my blog. End Aside.
So, anyway, blogging slowly became less fun as other old blawgers — “blawg,” “blawging,” and “blawgers” are bastardizations of “blog” and “law” or “lawyer” — then came generative search.
Now, Google doesn’t show our writing. It summarizes it, paraphrases it (often poorly), and slaps the answer at the top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). The result for the real writer is no traffic to show for it. Where once good legal writing brought lawyers traffic, Google now scrapes content and gives us nothing in return.
Why invest hours writing something carefully researched and well-argued if a machine will strip it for parts?
So here we are: I’m coming back to Substack.
Not instead of my blog — but as a supplement to it. This space will serve as a dispatch hub for my long-form work and ongoing research projects. Each post here will contain summaries, context, and commentary, with links to full articles on my “real” (but no longer much visited since Google AI stole everything) blog.
You’ll still (more or less) get the same voice. Just better placed. And if you want to dig deeper, the links.
What I’ve Been Writing Lately
In case you missed them, here are some of the recent articles I’ve published on the RHDefense blog — most of them dealing with the dangers of AI in the legal system:
Confabulations Cause Hallucinations
How we get fooled by AI lies — and why the term “hallucination” is the wrong frame.From Fumes to Function
A candid breakdown of how I do — and don’t — use large language models like ChatGPT in my legal practice.Twenty-First Century Delphic Oracle
A philosophical take on why AI outputs feel so convincing, even when they’re built on fiction.Pretrial Release: The Illusion of Algorithmic Neutrality
This most-recent post is the kickoff to my new series, Detained by Design, exposing how algorithmic tools in California’s pretrial system are quietly gutting constitutional bail protections.
More posts in that Detained by Design series are on the way. If you care about how criminal justice is being silently reshaped by algorithmic logic, stay tuned.
Prefer a More Traditional Newsletter?
If Substack isn’t your only reading lane or if you just want a more “newspaperly” recap of what I’ve been working on, you can also subscribe to my law office newsletter.
It’s free, comes out once a month at most. Often, it’s every other month. And it’s more bullet-pointed, with images, titles, and very very short descriptions.
It looks like those newsletters you get from the Big Guys™, like CNN or Vanity Fair or whoever, where they give you a list of images and stories and the links to go read them if you want. It includes blog post summaries, new pages (like practical how-to guides), and sometimes links to other writers doing good work on law and/or AI.
There are two locations to sign up and each provides you a different PDF in return for signing up.
So why not sign up? You don’t like free stuff? And great writing?
What to Expect Here Going Forward
This Substack is not where I’m going to dump quick takes or meme-level opinions. But it is a place to summarize in short-form the deeper work I’m doing on the blog. Here I’ll focus on ongoing themes like:
The rise of algorithmic governance in the courtroom
The myth of “neutral” decision-making in risk assessments
The ways tech culture clashes with criminal defense ethics
And, occasionally, some gallows humor about surviving it all (or not?)
I’ll probably post here about once or twice a month since each post (as I understand it) goes out as a newsletter to subscribers. So, no spam. No fluff. Just substantive legal commentary for people who want a quick-look — a hook, if you will — to more detailed posts on my blog.
Subscribe, Share, Stay Critical
If you haven’t already, consider subscribing. It’s free. And it guarantees you’ll know when I publish something new. I’ll also occasionally include behind-the-scenes updates on public records requests I’m filing, research leads I’m chasing, and upcoming speaking or CLE events.
Oh, and one more thing:
If you're in trouble, don’t talk your way into more of it.
Talk to a lawyer instead.
(Yo hablo suficiente español y sé cómo proteger lo que importa.)
See you in the next post.
—Rick