Luo

BACKGROUND

Our Background is detailed because the procedural events in these consolidated appeals are relevant to their resolution. Volokh wrote a law review article about pseudonymous litigation in which he identified “legal rules (such as they are) and the key policy arguments, in a way intended to be helpful to judges, lawyers, pro se litigants, and academics.” (Volokh, The Law of Pseudonymous Litigation (2022) 73 Hastings L.J. 1353.) Volokh favors “openness” to allow “the public (usually through the media) [to] supervise what happens in courtrooms that are publicly funded and exercise coercive power in the name of the people.” (Id. at p. 1361.) “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Volokh’s online blog, contains posts focusing on pseudonymous litigation including one entry that focuses exclusively on Luo.

3 Volokh describes the writings Luo challenges as “reporting on the contents of public records.” According to Volokh, he referred to Luo by her full name in his law review article in the Hastings Law Journal and by her last name on three blog posts. The law review article and blog posts refer to Luo as an example of a litigant whose use of pseudonymity impedes investigation into the…