One question pops to mind upon reading the following Columbia Law School announcement:

"Daniel Richman, professor of law at Columbia Law School, announced today that 1,181 law professors from across the country have signed a letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee in uncharacteristically unified support of the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court...On the list are signatories from 49 states."

And the question is: which is the 50th state, that which is not represented in the pro-Sotomayor parade?

The answer is, wait for it, wait for it: Alaska.

Addition to original post:

As noted by alert reader Kate, it turns out there is no law school in Alaska. So forget any notion of reading too much into the absence of Alaska.

Another factoid from the listing: New York University Law School leads all others in the number of endorsing faculty members, with 34. The predictable suspects are well represented, including Stanford (28), Michigan (28) and Harvard (23).

Some scholar, or unemployed lawyer with time on their hands, could have some fun tracking the networking on this: the flow of signature requests, and the influence exerted by individual opinion leaders. Why, for instance, does the University of Iowa Law School have 21 professors represented on the pro-Sotomayor petition while Penn has but 14?