[Eugene Volokh, April 27, 2006 at 11:46am] Trackbacks
Who Is Juan Non-Volokh?

Juan has informed me that he/she/it will be taking off the mask shortly, so I figured (with Juan's permission, of course) that this is a good opportunity for a bit of competitive fun. Post in the comments who you think Juan Non-Volokh is, and we'll see who got it right.

Related Posts (on one page):

  1. I Was Juan Non-Volokh:
  2. Who Is Juan Non-Volokh?
Sam (mail):
I was sure for a while that he was Miguel Estrada, but then changed my mind.
4.27.2006 12:47pm
Been There, Done That:
Khaled Abou El Fadl
4.27.2006 12:53pm
HLStudent:
A professor in the Michigan area
4.27.2006 12:56pm
LG:
Some guesses:

Very unlikely -- Noam Chomsky, Brian Leiter, OBL
Not very likely -- Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy

Most likely -- Eugene Volokh, saying all that which he dares not say under his own name
4.27.2006 12:57pm
Reml (mail):
John Yoo.
4.27.2006 1:02pm
Daniel Chapman (mail):
I've got it! Juan Non-Volokh is none other than... RED HERRING!
4.27.2006 1:04pm
Gordo:
Juan Cole
4.27.2006 1:05pm
Thief (mail) (www):
I've gleaned from JnoV's posts that he is a somewhat right/libertarian legal academic, presumeably one who was keeping the mask until he was assured of tenure.

This narrows down the suspect list considerably. Unfortunately I can't find a list of new hires either at Leiter or Concurring Opinions. The google does nothing, too. Anyone have a link?
4.27.2006 1:06pm
Thief (mail) (www):
Gah... meant "new tenures," not new hires...
4.27.2006 1:07pm
M. Lederman (mail):
For a while, I thought perhaps Ilya Somin, although the writing style didn't quite fit. But more recently I've been guessin' Jonathan Adler.
4.27.2006 1:08pm
DNL (mail):
He should have called himself "PTBNL." Then I'd have cared.
4.27.2006 1:08pm
Harvey Mosley (mail):
The answer, of course, is someone who has never been in my kitchen.
4.27.2006 1:10pm
Rick Shmatz (mail):
George Bush
4.27.2006 1:10pm
Sigivald (mail):
Either Cardinal Richelieu, or Ernst Blofeld.

Even money.
4.27.2006 1:11pm
Stuart Buck (mail):
I'd guess Jonathan Adler.
4.27.2006 1:11pm
HLStudent:
Just to narrow it down, I think s/he's a prof at one of three schools:

UMich
UD-Mercy
Wayne State
4.27.2006 1:12pm
Some Lurker:
My guess has always been Jonathan Adler. Fits all the criteria, went to Yale undergrad, young, untenured (or is it newly tenured now?) prof. The only thing that's made me a little skeptical of that theory is that he blogs under his own name. But then again, that's the perfect cover.
4.27.2006 1:14pm
Cheburashka (mail):
Alex Kozinski.
4.27.2006 1:19pm
rbj:

Dang, someone already took the kitchen answer.

Karl Rove.
Chief Justice John Roberts.
4.27.2006 1:19pm
Traveler:
And just how will we know that the person "unmasked" is the real Juan Non-Volokh?
4.27.2006 1:31pm
A.S.:
Yeah, the thing about Adler is that he's been writing under his own name on NRO for a while, so it's hardly a secret that he's a conservative. So why would he want to keep anonymous here?
4.27.2006 1:32pm
MDJD2B (mail):
Rahmatullah Hashemi? He is sort of a Yale undergraduate.
4.27.2006 1:38pm
Whatever:
Harriet Miers...
4.27.2006 1:43pm
MJH (mail):
Mark Felt as portrayed by Hal Holbrook.
4.27.2006 1:48pm
Josh3L (mail):
Wait...Juan Non-Volokh isn't his real name?
4.27.2006 1:48pm
Matt Barr (mail) (www):
Juan Non-Volokh is PEOPLE!!!

Or John Hasnas.
4.27.2006 1:57pm
Anderson (mail) (www):
The Spanish Inquistion. NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition. (Really, the "Juan" was too obvious.)
4.27.2006 1:59pm
gawaine (mail):
David Lat?
4.27.2006 2:05pm
Pete Freans (mail):
Either Kim Jong-il or, as LG mentioned above, it's Prof. Volokh himself, in some sort of Sybil-like state. But Jong-il seems more plausible....
4.27.2006 2:06pm
Sisyphus:
Stephen Banner
4.27.2006 2:13pm
Aaron Suggs (www):
Juan Non-Volokh = Eugene Volokh. Of course, revealing Juan Non-volokh's identity changes his/her/its identity. So can't really know Juan's identity due to the uncertainty principle. :-)
4.27.2006 2:20pm
just me (mail):
Benjamin Volokh? After all, he hasn't posted much under his own name. I think he's in the "footie pajama" division of Pajamas Media.
4.27.2006 2:24pm
Zaoem (mail):
John Lott
4.27.2006 2:25pm
Kim Scarborough (mail) (www):
Jessica Litman.
4.27.2006 2:29pm
SP:
Keyser Soze
4.27.2006 2:34pm
Hoosier:
Kate Beckinsale. If there's a God.
4.27.2006 2:37pm
Gary Leff (mail) (www):
I have long held the theory articulated above by Stuart Buck, and assumed this was who I was writing to when emailing JNV...
4.27.2006 2:39pm
Mr. Bingley (www):
The man who shot JR.
4.27.2006 2:43pm
SLS 1L:
Tom DeLay.
4.27.2006 2:45pm
myalterego:
Perhaps the un-masking of JNV is the purpose of the code embedded in the new Da Vinci Coda plagiarism decision.

I don't have a reasonable guess, and someone already beat me to W. Mark Felt.
4.27.2006 2:51pm
Alaska Jack (mail):
Michael Hitzlik

- AJ
4.27.2006 2:51pm
Alaska Jack (mail):
... though in a way, aren't we ALL Michael Hitzlik?

- jc
4.27.2006 2:52pm
Syd (mail):
Hanah, of course. Now that's she's a Volokh, she has to change her name. I expect more posts about cats.
4.27.2006 2:52pm
Trade Monkey (mail) (www):
Gotta be Elvis...
4.27.2006 2:52pm
Don:
Sasha Volokh. Clues:

1. Juan Non was one of the first "conspirators," joining this blog before it became big-time. Ergo, probably a close associate of Eugene or Sasha, or in their circle.

2. This from his FAQ is cutely phrased as a non-denial:

Q: Ah, I've got it figured out: This is actually your own pseudonym, so you can post things that you'd be ashamed to see under your name.
A: I have no shame. More importantly, if it's good enough for Publius, Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, Vladimir Lenin, and Josef Stalin -- wait a sec, strike those last two -- it's good enough for us.
4.27.2006 2:57pm
countertop (mail):
I've always thought it was Adler
4.27.2006 3:06pm
Glenn W Bowen (mail):
He's that drip you hear at night, that rustling of a curtain- the closing of a door, then silence. A crankshaft plantation south of Cleveland, rabbits eating carrots, the smell of 3-in-1 Oil on the hair clippers your mother kept in the kitchen drawer. A 747 crashing through your attic forever. A coat hanger stuffed in your mouth so you always appear to smile, too-small shoes, a dog you despise, and a broken clock.
Celebrating his life without you, he knows where you are... and he watches.
4.27.2006 3:08pm
davidbernstein (mail):
I'd guess, but I doubt readers would believe that I don't know for sure, though I don't. I'm 99.9% sure, however based on clues from his postings...
4.27.2006 3:12pm
Mike99:
A.C. Cowlings
4.27.2006 3:15pm
OJ:
I'm A.C., Damn it!
4.27.2006 3:18pm
The Pathetic Earthling (mail):
King Juan Carlos.
4.27.2006 3:19pm
Broncos:
Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
4.27.2006 3:24pm
Garrett O'Hara (mail) (www):
Juan Valdez :-P
4.27.2006 3:26pm
Just John:
John Not-Volokh! (Fiendishly clever, simply Anglicizing his name...)
4.27.2006 3:33pm
Anderson (mail) (www):
Sasha Volokh

God, I hope not.
4.27.2006 3:34pm
logicnazi (mail) (www):
Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei

I couldn't resist getting in on the fun.
4.27.2006 3:34pm
bt (mail):
Darn you Alaska Jack, you beat me to the punch!!!
4.27.2006 3:44pm
baclaw (mail):
Fornuately, (or unfortunately depending on your point of view) I can safely say that JnoV IS someone who has been in my kitchen — and might be in it later tonight.

And no -- I'm not talking about Juan Valdez.
4.27.2006 3:47pm
BGPaul (mail):
If you claim that JnoV has not been in your kitchen then we have to assume one of a few things.

1. No one save yourself has been in your kitchen.

2. You don't have a kitchen

3. You know who JnoV is and they have not been in your kitchen.

Otherwise.....how could you claim JnoV hasn't been in your kitchen?
4.27.2006 3:48pm
qroncy (mail):
BGP: (3 options)
Otherwise.....how could you claim JnoV hasn't been in your kitchen?

Qroncy: 4. You know JnoV is one of (x) people, and none of them has been in your kitchen.

5. (X) people have been in your kitchen, and you know that none of them could be JnoV.
4.27.2006 3:58pm
redheadlaw7 (mail):
Notice that baclaw said JNoV HAS been in his kitchen.
4.27.2006 4:03pm
Joe Henchman (mail):
W. Mark Felt. Or maybe Gregory Maggs.
4.27.2006 4:03pm
Harry Niska (mail):
I have no idea who JnoV is, but I can quite safely say he has not been in my kitchen, even though some people other than myself have been in my kitchen. I would fit under option 5, I guess.
4.27.2006 4:06pm
Mr. T.:
Actually, I believe JR was shot by a woman
4.27.2006 4:14pm
L. Ron Hubbard:
Freddie Lincoln
4.27.2006 4:22pm
Bobbie:
Law professor at a school in the Northwest.
4.27.2006 4:30pm
OJ:
Freddie Prinze, Jr.
4.27.2006 4:31pm
Eh Nonymous (mail) (www):
The real question is,

Who is Juan Galt?
4.27.2006 4:32pm
M. Python:
Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern- schplenden- schlittercrasscrenbon- fried- digger- dingle- dangle- dongle- dungle- burstein- von- knacker- thrasher- apple- banger- horowitz- ticolensic- grander- knotty- spelltinkle- grandlich- grumblemeyer- spelterwasser- kurstlich- himbleeisen- bahnwagen- gutenabend- bitte- ein- nürnburger- bratwustle- gerspurten- mitz- weimache- luber- hundsfut- gumberaber- shönedanker- kalbsfleisch- mittler- aucher- von Hautkopft of Ulm
4.27.2006 4:33pm
spider:
It's gotta be Joakim Noah.

Or maybe Yannick Noah?
4.27.2006 4:37pm
Jon Rowe (mail) (www):
Frank Cross?
4.27.2006 4:37pm
Guesser (mail):
Rick Hills
4.27.2006 4:38pm
Silicon Valley Jim:
He's Barry Bonds's steroid supplier.
4.27.2006 4:45pm
myalterego:
Perhaps I am mistaken, but isn't Sasha Volokh still clerking at One First Street? If so, don't you think that the David Lat experience would (by rough analogy) counsel against disclosure now if JNV is Sasha?

Just my take...
4.27.2006 4:47pm
Postchaise (mail):
Jonathan Adler. X once made almost identical posts on Volokh.com and the Corner, with one post under Juan Non-Volokh and one post under Jonathan Adler. I think it was back in the hubbub about Harriet.
4.27.2006 4:52pm
Devin McCullen (mail):
Captain Jonathan S. Tuttle
4.27.2006 4:57pm
walt61:
Brian Leiter's sock puppet.
4.27.2006 5:02pm
Jeffrey Tucker:
Vicki Lynn "Anna Nicole" Smith Marshall
4.27.2006 5:13pm
William Spieler (mail) (www):
The ghost of Christmas past
4.27.2006 5:15pm
FXKLM:

X once made almost identical posts on Volokh.com and the Corner, with one post under Juan Non-Volokh and one post under Jonathan Adler. I think it was back in the hubbub about Harriet.


There was a lot of commentary on Harriet Miers, and most of it looked pretty much identical. I don't know if that tells us much.
4.27.2006 5:19pm
Al Maviva (mail) (www):
He's Spartacus.
4.27.2006 5:21pm
CJColucci (mail):
I am Juan Non-Volokh! Or is that Spartacus?
4.27.2006 5:24pm
TO:
maybe by "recently tenured" he meant that he was recently confirmed as a judge...

makes the "people will hold my blog postings against me in the 'tenure' process" gripe a bit more believable.
4.27.2006 5:26pm
gramm:
not sure who he is, but i know what he is:

[A]bove all, anonymity, that shield of all literary rascality, would have to disappear. It was introduced under the pretext of protecting the honest critic, who warned the public, against the resentment of the author and his friends. But where there is one case of this sort, there will be a hundred where it merely serves to take all responsibility from the man who cannot stand by what he has said […]. Often enough it is only a cloak for covering the obscurity, incompetence and insignificance of the critic. It is incredible what impudence these fellows will show, and what literary trickery they will venture to commit, as soon as they know they are safe under the shadow of anonymity. Let me recommend a general Anti-criticism, a universal medicine or panacea, to put a stop to all anonymous reviewing, whether it praises the bad or blames the good: Rascal! your name! For a man to wrap himself up and draw his hat over his face, and then fall upon people who are walking about without any disguise—this is not the part of a gentleman, it is the part of a scoundrel and a knave

- Schopenhauer, Parerga und Paralipomena, Ch. 23
4.27.2006 5:29pm
LeiterSucks:
To gramm:

Hi Leiter!
4.27.2006 5:38pm
TO:
Juan Cole...

Untenured, named Juan, definitely not a Volokh, fate tbd.
4.27.2006 5:40pm
steve k:
Gramm has a point. Think of all those anonymous pamphleteers, including some of our founding fathers, who have been with us throughout our history. What a bunch of scoundrels and knaves.
4.27.2006 5:42pm
Dave Hardy (mail) (www):
Jimmy Hoffa?
4.27.2006 5:51pm
Sebastian Holsclaw (mail):
Is Juan non-Volokh Princess Projectra?
4.27.2006 5:54pm
Dave Hardy (mail) (www):
Gramm has a point. Think of all those anonymous pamphleteers, including some of our founding fathers, who have been with us throughout our history. What a bunch of scoundrels and knaves.

It has always amazed me that NOBODY left a note, even in a diary, to the effect of "by the way, I wrote the Letters from the Federal Farmer." And that neither Madison nor Hamilton nor Jay ever bothered to note who wrote which Federalist! Maybe they wanted to drive historians to distraction...
4.27.2006 5:55pm
TO:
steve k, perhaps you should read the entire comment before trashing it. The relevant part that you appear to have missed is here:

It [anonymity] was introduced under the pretext of protecting the honest critic, who warned the public, against the resentment of the author and his friends. But where there is one case of this sort, there will be a hundred where it merely serves to take all responsibility from the man who cannot stand by what he has said


There are always exceptions...
4.27.2006 5:56pm
Wild Pegasus (mail) (www):
In a shocking twist, Alan Dershowitz

- Josh.
4.27.2006 6:05pm
Brad (mail):
It's official. Juan was tenured just a few moments ago...and I am the lucky girl who gets to go out celebrating with him. Congrats Juan! See ya tonight!
4.27.2006 6:16pm
James Taranto (mail) (www):
Gotta be Valerie Plame.
4.27.2006 6:19pm
Brad (mail):
Oops. Posted that under my roomie's e-mail on accident. Ack! Sorry Brad...Juan will not be in your kitchen tonight. I guess that's a clue...Juan will be drinking with someone who has a roommate named Brad. Anyone who actually knows Juan will find this downright amusing.
4.27.2006 6:19pm
Redheadlaw (mail):
I just realized I posted again under Brad...
4.27.2006 6:20pm
DJ (mail):
Michelle Boardman.
4.27.2006 6:26pm
Dan Markel (mail) (www):
My guess is it's Adler.
4.27.2006 6:27pm
James Taranto (mail) (www):
So I guess it's not Christina Rorick.
4.27.2006 6:27pm
Kim Scarborough (mail) (www):
Hmm... looks like he's in Ohio, then. Both "baclaw" and "redheadlaw7" point to Ohio.
4.27.2006 6:29pm
Adam White:
Harriet Miers.
4.27.2006 6:31pm
Ron Moses:
Bill Brassky!!!
4.27.2006 6:37pm
Attila (Pillage Idiot) (mail) (www):
Let's start with the formula "X is Juan Non-Volokh." We can solve for X in either of two ways: 1) Prove that one person is X. 2) For everyone in the world but one person, prove that he or she ISN'T X.

Number 2 isn't very easy, but let's start at the beginning. I am not JNV.
4.27.2006 6:41pm
RMW (mail):
Jack Bauer
4.27.2006 6:42pm
Evan (mail) (www):
Adler fits the criteria.
4.27.2006 6:44pm
David Matthews (mail):
"Oops. Posted that under my roomie's e-mail on accident. Ack! Sorry Brad...Juan will not be in your kitchen tonight. I guess that's a clue...Juan will be drinking with someone who has a roommate named Brad."

And who has apparently already started without Juan....
4.27.2006 6:53pm
JohnG:
Devin McCullen - You mean he's back from that great big waiting room in the sky? Nah, don't believe it.
4.27.2006 6:58pm
DJ (mail):
Stella Adler?
4.27.2006 6:59pm
Gene Vilensky (mail) (www):
Adler does fit the bill, but Adler has been blogging on NRO and has been making his political views quite clear for some time now (he's been Contributing Editor of National Review for years). I've suspected that it's Adler for a while, but this has to be quite an interesting explanation for his anonymity here but not in any other venue where he has aired his views.
4.27.2006 7:06pm
Bisch:
Whoever s/he is, s/he wouldn't have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids.
4.27.2006 7:11pm
Bisch:
Or Scott McClellen, cause he's in the clear now.
4.27.2006 7:12pm
Eric S. (mail) (www):
I'll see Adam's Harriet Miers and raise him a Nathan Hecht.
4.27.2006 7:18pm
Law Student:
With the Ohio IP's being linked, it makes sense that it'd be Adler. However, what is the point of being Juan Non-Volokh for all this years with various concerns about the Dan Drezner/tenure fate, only to reveal yourself as someone well-known to the blogosphere and the commentary world?

Wouldn't the only rational response to the revealing be: "Who?" or else it begs the question, what was with the pseudonym all these years? I know all about you already.
4.27.2006 7:36pm
peg (mail) (www):
Me?
4.27.2006 7:42pm
Rex:
I agree it makes little sense for Adler to have been pseudonymous here but not elsewhere. But after looking back over Juan's early posts, the case for Adler seems awfully strong.
4.27.2006 7:51pm
o' connuh j.:
I believe it's Sandra Day O'Connor.
4.27.2006 7:54pm
Harry Niska (mail):
How do you square the Adler theory with this post (http://www.volokh.com/posts/1128897638.shtml)?
4.27.2006 8:09pm
Adam White:
I have to say that, after doing five minutes' post-dinner "sleuthing" (read: Googling), I find it a bit suspicious that the owner of the RedHeadLaw email address, above, who is celebrating JNOV's tenure, is credited in the lead footnote of one of Adler's articles. So I have to switch my vote from "Miers" to "Adler," the odd Drezner-post inconsistency notwithstanding.

Or Samuel Alito.
4.27.2006 8:16pm
Matt Barr (mail) (www):
If he's a Michigan sports fan (I think I remember correctly?) and in Ohio, I'm revising my guess to this guy. Toledo may as well be Michigan; they smell about the same.
4.27.2006 8:23pm
Matt Barr (mail) (www):
That was probably unduly harsh. I apolgize to Toledo.
4.27.2006 8:23pm
o' connuh j.:
What happened to Michelle Boardman anyway. She was the reason why I read the Conspiracy in the first place.
4.27.2006 8:27pm
Marcus1 (mail) (www):
Maybe writing for NRO is seen as safer since it's a bona fide publication with less personal elements than here. Or it could be a matter of being seen as blogging too much.
4.27.2006 8:30pm
Gene Vilensky (mail) (www):
Matt, it can't be Barrett. JNV has informed us that he earned a BA at Yale. Barrett earned it at Amherst. So far, it looks like it's Adler. A while ago I would have guessed Dale Carpenter (another Yale grad), but he's blogging under his own name. Don't know who that leaves us as conservative/libertarians, who did undergrad at Yale sometime in the 90's.
4.27.2006 8:32pm
Gene Vilensky (mail) (www):
Michelle Boardman is now in the government, that's why she can no longer blog.
4.27.2006 8:33pm
Gene Vilensky (mail) (www):
Actually, scratch that it seems as though she stopped blogging a bit before her position in the government began.
4.27.2006 8:34pm
Rex:
If Juan's main objection to using a real name was the negative perception of blogging, not other non-academic writing, I don't see the Drezner post as inconsistent.
4.27.2006 8:47pm
Some Lurker:
Seems pretty clear that it's Adler. Now the debate should turn to why he's been blogging here under a pseudonym, and blogging under his own name elsewhere.
4.27.2006 8:48pm
Matt Barr (mail) (www):
Missed the Yale thing. Thanks, Gene.

Bench Memos is a blog.
4.27.2006 8:49pm
Rex:
Sure, but Bench Memos has a certain credibility as part of NRO that VC certainly did not have back in 2002.
4.27.2006 9:04pm
Matt Barr (mail) (www):
I suppose, though a good lawyer could make a better argument for the gravitas of blogging with Prof. Volokh, Prof. Barnett et al. than with K-Lo.
4.27.2006 9:17pm
Alan K. Henderson (mail) (www):
The Dread Justice Roberts
4.27.2006 9:32pm
guestinggame:
Jenna Bush
4.27.2006 9:36pm
Kim Scarborough (mail) (www):
Here's something interesting...

Jonathan Adler on SUVs, January 2003

Juan on SUVs, February 2003
4.27.2006 10:06pm
Kim Scarborough (mail) (www):
Especially note the end of the two pieces:

"...Easterbrook does not like SUVs all that much. Nor do I, to be honest." --Adler

"David may not like SUVs all that much. In matter of fact, I don't like them much either..." --Juan
4.27.2006 10:10pm
Gabe Duvall:
I too have guessed Boardman. She and JNV both were early conspirators, and MB blogs rarely. But if JNV truly has a Yale degree, then it's not NB.
4.27.2006 10:14pm
Gabe Duvall:

Adler does seem like the most reasonable guess I see here, but the reasons for his anonymity are hard to imagine in light of his other, attributed outlets.
4.27.2006 10:17pm
Alaska Jack (mail):
It's worth noting -- well, I don't know, maybe not -- that some of the "clues" Woodward left about Deep Throat's identity turned out in hindsight to be flat-out lies carefully crafted misdirection, made up to throw people off the scent.
4.27.2006 10:29pm
Skip Sauer (www):
Juan "too busy to blog" Hasnas
4.27.2006 10:34pm
SFresident (mail):
Matt Stone/Trey Parker
4.27.2006 10:40pm
Rex:
That SUV piece is a good find. Of further interest is this post in which Eugene linked to Adler's NRO article, saying:

SUV'S: I'm mostly a noncombatant in the SUV wars (my lovely wife drives one, but I have no emotional attachment to it), and I can't claim any expertise on the subject; but this piece by my friend and fellow lawprof Jonathan Adler is quite interesting, and I've found Jonathan's work to be trustworthy.
4.27.2006 10:48pm
JPSobel:
Jimmy Hoffa
4.27.2006 11:31pm
EricS.:
The link between RedHeadLaw and the Adler footnote is a good find, especially as Lexis confirms that Adler piece as the only law review article in which she is cited...
4.27.2006 11:45pm
Stuart Buck (mail):
FWIW: I once emailed a few people, including Adler, about a post I had written on my blog. A short while later, Juan Non-Volokh linked to it. (The other recipients of the email are clearly not Juan, e.g., Glenn Reynolds). Now it could be that Juan Non-Volokh is an especially religious reader of mine. Still . . .
4.27.2006 11:56pm
Traveler:
If AlaskaJack is correct and JNV has thrown clues as misdirection, he's had some help:

Howard Bashman reports that he recently had lunchwith JNV, presumably in Philadelphia, where his practice is centered. Adler is a Philly native, born and raised.
4.27.2006 11:57pm
Some Lurker:
The link between RedHeadLaw and the Adler footnote is a good find, especially as Lexis confirms that Adler piece as the only law review article in which she is cited...


Not just that, but if you google her, you find that she works another attorney named Brad whose initials are B.A.C. Perhaps the "Brad" redheadlaw was referring to, and the same "baclaw" who posted that Juan HAS been in his kitchen.

If Jonathan Adler isn't actually JNOV, and JNOV purposely dropped those clues, well, then JNOV is very, very clever as well as very, very inconsiderate of redheadlaw and baclaw.

I am completely convinced it is Adler based on the above (but maybe I'm biased, because I've suspected Adler for at least a year).
4.28.2006 12:03am
James Lindgren (mail):
At the blogger dinner tonight at the Harvard Club, Eugene revealed who JNOV is (I had no idea until today). Now if I could just remember the name Eugene mentioned . . . .

It's among the guesses above.
4.28.2006 12:15am
Rex:
Howard Bashman reports that he recently had lunchwith JNV, presumably in Philadelphia, where his practice is centered. Adler is a Philly native, born and raised.

Google reveals that Bashman and Adler have been corresponding at least for a few years.

Plus, another connection is the similarity between this Adler article on biodiversity and these JNOV posts which appeared only days apart in 2002.
4.28.2006 12:18am
DJ (mail):
Maybe "Jonathan Adler" is another one of Michelle Boardman's pseudonyms. Clever girl...
4.28.2006 12:35am
countertop (mail):
To update my earlier post above about it being Adler - back when i had nearly zero readers I decided to respond to JNOV's Sunday Song Lyric (Bring it back! Bring it back!) with a Monday Song Lyric. Sent JNOV an email and next thing I know one of the 14 visitors to my blog that day (and the only one linking directly to the post) was logging in from Case Western Reserve. As you probably know, Mr. Adler was at Case Western for some time.

He, of course, provided me my first real traffic Volokhlaunch the next Sunday (and I've been forever grateful as a result).
4.28.2006 12:38am
OrinKerr:
The real question is, who was Phillipe de Croy?
4.28.2006 1:04am
o' connuh j.:
Was it you Orin.
4.28.2006 1:10am
Justin (mail):
Wouldn't this pretty much vindicate Brian Leiter? If JNV = Adler, then JNV wasn't being anonymous to hide his political viewpoints in order to get tenure (an irrational but certainly not unheard of worry). Instead, JNV stayed anonymous so he could be a jerk towards certain peoples without accepting responsibility, and/or write things that were poorly argued or unfair to others without hurting his professional reputation.

Certainly, that's all within his rights, but the victim card that Adler (if this is Adler) played, along with the egrigious and blatent lying about his motives during his tiff with Leiter, show a certain immaturity.
4.28.2006 1:37am
And again:
Hi Leiter!
4.28.2006 1:57am
o' connuh j.:
Immaturity was never a bar to Leittter getting tenure.
4.28.2006 2:00am
John Jenkins (mail):
Whatever one's views about NR, it's an established media outlet. It's not one of them there newfangled blog things. It's quite likely that a tenure committee member would look differently at publishing something at NR(O) related to one's scholarly work versus the Sunday Song Lyric or something similar posted here. In any case, if JNV is J.H. Adler, it doesn't do anything to vindicate Prof. Leiter (though I admit that, to me, would be well nigh impossible), whose lack of charity and being a jerk are well established.
4.28.2006 2:33am
eh $2:
Of course it's Adler. Like Adler, Juan's pet issue is the environment.
4.28.2006 2:44am
John Jenkins (mail):
By that logic, it could be Al Gore.
4.28.2006 3:16am
Paul Gowder (mail):
Bork.
4.28.2006 3:42am
MikeHu (mail):
I think he is Raymond Luxury Yacht, which is pronounced as "Throatwobbler Mangrove."

...and now it's time for the penguin on top of your tele-vision to explode...
4.28.2006 3:57am
Ari (mail):
It's Geoffrey Rapp from Akron Law School. Yale Law, worked in Michigan and is a huge sports nut. Works for me.
4.28.2006 5:07am
Ari (mail):
Oops. Toledo, not Akron. But Toledo is not really close to Youngstown where I'm pretty sure Christina Rorick is. Cleveland to Youngstown is only 75 miles. Seems more plausible that it's Adler.
4.28.2006 5:15am
Hugh59 (mail) (www):
His name is Inigo Montoya. You killed his father. Prepare to die!
4.28.2006 6:42am
mythusmage (mail) (www):
Not Adler, an atelier.
4.28.2006 6:42am
Just Guessin:
Yo Momma
4.28.2006 7:49am
Juan Non-Volokh (mail) (www):
I addressed some of the issues raised in this comment thread here.

JNoV
4.28.2006 8:23am
TO:
I am Spartacus
4.28.2006 9:50am
Harry Niska (mail):
Okay. That does it for me. I'm going with Adler.
4.28.2006 10:12am
Reml (mail):
Kiwi Camera?
4.28.2006 10:47am
elliottg (mail):
It's Adler and his first post should be an apology to Leiter.
4.28.2006 11:31am
Jeremy in NYC (mail):
Bruce Wayne.
4.28.2006 11:42am
Ari:
An apology to Leiter? Leiter often behaves like a child. It's too bad Leiter's behavior gets in the way of sifting thorugh his posts since Leiter occasionally has something insight to say.
4.28.2006 11:52am
Silly Funny Pseudonym (mail):
Oh, oh, this is so exciting! The suspense is killing me! Who can it be? Who can it be????

And that JNoV! What a tease dropping in at 7:23 a.m. to drop one last anonymous comment! How cute! How precious!

Oh, this whole thing is just so charming!
4.28.2006 12:21pm
Juank Cole:
V for Vendetta guy
4.28.2006 12:28pm
sonicfrog (mail) (www):
Scott McLellan: he's soon to be no longer employed by the government and will be able to blog using his real name!
4.28.2006 12:49pm
DJ (mail):
I still think it's Boardman. Have she and "Jonathan Adler" ever been seen together in person?
4.28.2006 2:10pm
Crank (mail) (www):
I actually have to say, until JNonV made clear that he (I'm pretty sure he's a he) was an untenured academic, I did used to think it was Judge Kozinski.
4.28.2006 3:20pm
Panzerlawyer:
Prof Richard Steinberg.
4.28.2006 3:32pm
A.S.:
I think this whole teaser thing ("we'll reveal who JNOV really is ... just after this short commercial break!") and the whole contest thing ("guess who JNOV is - person who comes closest whithout going over wins!") are just a ploy to ratchet up VC's hits. :-)
4.28.2006 3:34pm
Hoosier:
I dunno. But I'm hoping it's me. 'Cause that would mean that I've recently been granted tenure. And I'd like that.
4.28.2006 4:18pm
Bobby:
Prof. Michael Steven Green
4.28.2006 5:40pm
GMUSL 2L (mail):
Bobby -- Prof. Green would have had no compunction posting under his own name, especially after spending years and years at Mason along with Zywicki, Bernstein, Cowen, and Boardman before ditching us for W&M after the fall 2005 semester.

Further, I took his CivPro class, and I can't really remember him getting excited about environmental issues. JNoV has some snark and a combative streak that Prof. Green lacks.
4.28.2006 5:48pm
The Boring Made Dull (mail) (www):
Well, as Bertie Wooster might say, he's not me, Joe Louis, The Archbishop of Canterbury, or Lilian Gish, to name but three others.
4.29.2006 12:05am
Maniakes (mail) (www):
His name is Robert Paulson.
4.29.2006 2:03am
TomHuff (mail):
Jon Adler also blogs under his own name at The Commons Blog (i.e. see http://commonsblog.org/archives/000659.php for a recent entry), which ordinarily would lead me to believe it's someone else.

But man... that's some damn fine googling you people have done. I think I've gotta go with Adler too now.
4.29.2006 2:27pm
anon/portly (mail):
Dave Jenkins. Calder Benson. Jim Cooper. Chuck Youngblood.
4.29.2006 11:14pm