The United States of Lawfare

How our society's litigiousness motivates anti-Trump prosecutors.

We live in a litigious society. While it might surprise some to read that ours may not be the most litigious nation in the world, we rank fifth (behind Germany, Sweden, Israel, and Austria), and more importantly there is a litigious attitude that pervades just about everything.

So much that companies (and individuals, for that matter) do is legally defensive or preemptive in nature. I picked up some drive-through lunch the other day, and didn't blink an eye at the window sticker warning against the possibility of a soupçon of sesame seed residue in anything that came out of the store. "Caution, contents hot" are on everything above room temperature (though, in fairness, the lava that fills McDonald's apple pies warrants the warning). My paramedic friend has explained to me, time and again, how so many of the protocols they and emergency department doctors follow are dictated by lawyers guarding against other lawyers.