ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at davidlat@substack.com. This is a reader-supported publication; you can subscribe by clicking here.
A version of this article originally appeared on Bloomberg Law, part of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc. (800-372-1033), and is reproduced here with permission.
The prospect of massive new tariffs is sending shock waves through the global economy. Financial markets are gyrating wildly. The legal profession is under attack, with Biglaw as a top target.
Lawyers and judges have an important role to play in standing up for the rule of law. Our efforts are especially useful when they’re focused on our own workplaces and communities, where we have the greatest ability to make a difference.
But it’s also important to direct your time and energy toward matters you can affect even more—such as your own health. In terms of my own fitness, for the past few months I’ve been trying to exercise five days a week, walk four miles a day, get at least seven hours of sleep, and improve my diet.
My efforts seem to be making a difference. When I saw my doctor last week for a checkup, I learned that I had lost almost 10 pounds since my last visit, and my bloodwork showed I was no longer prediabetic.
Are you looking to improve your own health and fitness? If so, I have some recommended resources—especially if you, like me, appreciate data and information.
Start wearing a smart watch, so you can monitor your daily steps, exercise, and sleep. Get a smart scale, so you can track your weight, body composition, and how they change over time. And subscribe to a federal judge’s newsletter.
Judge Amul Thapar has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit since 2017. Before that, he served for more than nine years as a federal trial judge in the Eastern District of Kentucky. And since January, he has been publishing ART’s Health Corner, a newsletter on the Substack platform. (His full name is Amul Roger Thapar, so his initials are “ART”—which is how he’s referred to by his clerks.)
Each week, Judge Thapar publishes what he describes as an “actionable health and wellness tip.” His first 10 tips have covered familiar topics, including the virtues of exercise and sleep and the vices of ultra-processed food and sugar. But they’ve also delved into more esoteric subjects, such as the comparative merits of different water filtration systems, which foods you should prioritize buying organic, and what bloodwork you should request from your doctor—including some tests that aren’t part of the standard panel. (On the judge’s recommendation, I asked my doctor during last week’s visit to check my Vitamin D—which was normal, I’m happy to report.)
As you’d expect given his day job, Judge Thapar’s newsletter is based on extensive research. His missives feature footnotes brimming over with citations to books, research studies, and journal articles. At the same time, the posts are concise and easy to read, and he keeps his tone light and accessible—consistent with the style of his judicial opinions, which commentators have praised for being clear and conversational.
Why is a judge, who has no shortage of topics to ruminate over, so interested in health and wellness?
Around two years ago, Judge Thapar explained, he found himself going to doctors more often than in the past. He was experiencing significant shoulder and back pain, which was affecting his daily activities. The doctors didn’t have much in the way of answers—except for pain medications.
“I found this answer less than satisfying,” he said. “As a prosecutor and as a judge, I’ve seen what painkillers can do to people. So as a Type A personality, I decided to take matters into my own hands.”
Judge Thapar started voraciously consuming books, articles, and podcasts about health and fitness. As he put it to me, “I started to go down this rabbit hole—and never stopped.” And he didn’t just read and listen. He applied what he learned to his own life, changing his diet, exercise routine, and sleep practices—and the results were remarkable.
As he wrote in the introductory post of his newsletter, his back and shoulder issues went away. Today he can play sports and lift weights without pain—or painkillers. Over the course of a year, he lost 20 pounds—some of which he has since gained back, but as muscle.
His family and friends, including his clerks, noticed the transformation and asked him how he was doing it. So he started a group text to share his health and wellness tips, including the research they rested upon, with anyone who was interested. As the number of recipients grew, he concluded it made more sense to turn it into a newsletter.
Initially it was a private newsletter, requiring Judge Thapar to approve every subscriber. But as the number of readers and amount of positive feedback continued to grow, he decided to make it public, so anyone can subscribe.
Before making the newsletter public, he cleared it with the Sixth Circuit’s ethics adviser, and he’s mindful of his judicial role as he goes about his writing. He steers clear of controversial topics or areas where he views the research as unsettled. He doesn’t charge for subscriptions. And unlike many health and fitness influencers, he doesn’t endorse any products (which explains why, in a recent post about supplements, you won’t see any brand names or Amazon affiliate links).
Although ART’s Health Corner is written for a general audience, Judge Thapar believes that many in the legal profession would find its content especially valuable.
“A problem with our profession, to be very candid, is that we experience all the usual health problems—but on steroids,” he told me. “I’m really trying to help my fellow members of the legal profession—because I see how much worse it is for us.”
There are at least two reasons for this. First, law is a stressful and demanding field—which can give rise to mental-health challenges, substance-abuse problems, and difficulty getting adequate sleep. Second, lawyers’ jobs tend to be very sedentary.
“As lawyers and judges, we sit around all day,” he said. “And then we snack on ultra-processed foods—many law firms have snack rooms that are filled with ultra-processed foods.”
To address the problem of being sedentary, Judge Thapar recommends what he calls “exercise snacks.” For example, every 30 minutes, stand up and do some air squats. Take the stairs instead of the elevator when you can. And if you have to discuss something with a colleague in your office, talk to them over a walk together instead of emailing or calling.
I’m turning 50 in June, and ahead of that milestone, I’ve been thinking—and hoping—that “age is just a number.” Perhaps the judge feels the same way too.
I didn’t raise this in our conversation, but Judge Thapar is widely regarded as a U.S. Supreme Court shortlister. In fact, he appeared on one of President Donald Trump’s prior shortlists, back in 2016. But Thapar is now almost a decade older—and at 55, turning 56 at the end of this month, he’s one of the older contenders.
Based on his bloodwork and other indicators, however, Judge Thapar’s “biological age” is 43—and that, to me, is far more revealing than his chronological age. Perhaps a Justice Thapar could bring back to One First Street the exercise classes that the late Justice Sandra Day O’Connor used to organize.
Make America healthy again—and make SCOTUS healthy again too?
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