Profiling: The Dead Lawyer Joke Defense

From the OpinionJournal of the WSJ, Best of the Web,

Why Did the Lawyer Cross the Road?

A crackdown on jaywalkers in the Los Angeles Civic Center resulted in nearly 250 citations in the past six months--and a $500,000 civil-rights lawsuit claiming that attorneys were being unfairly targeted by county police officers," reports the Los Angeles Daily News:

The lawsuit filed by Beverly Hills attorney Robert W. Hirsh says he has seen officers from the Los Angeles County Police cite lawyers jaywalking across Hill Street, between a parking garage and the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, while ignoring fellow law enforcement officers doing the same thing.

"It's wrong for them to play gotcha with attorneys, but turn a blind eye to their law enforcement brethren," said Hirsh, who was not ticketed himself. "When the police have the temerity to violate the civil rights of attorneys, then no one in a free society is safe."

But consider No. 3 on the Canonical List of Lawyer Jokes:

Q. What's the difference between a dead skunk in the road and a dead lawyer in the road?

A. There are skid marks in front of the skunk.

Inasmuch as this joke is funny because it is true, lawyers are at higher risk than regular people from jaywalking. Thus the county should have no problem proving in court that its selective enforcement has a rational basis.