For various hats worn by Popes, see Pope's hat.

Popehat is a law-oriented blog.[1] According to its tagline, Popehat is a "group complaint about law, liberty, and leisure". Its primary blogger, American attorney Ken White,[2] writes about law, scams, and freedom of expression on the Internet[3] in a blunt, often crass style. A Twitter account under the same name was later established, and amassed hundreds of thousands of followers before being abandoned in 2022. The Bluesky profile has more than 361,000 followers as of November 2025.[4]

History

Popehat was established in 2005, "aborted because we have lives", and restarted in 2007.[1] After having a low profile for many years, the blog came to widespread attention in 2012 for its coverage of The Oatmeal and FunnyJunk legal dispute involving Charles Carreon, as well as the US Olympic Committee's cease and desist letters to knitters on Ravelry for scheduling a "Ravelypmics."[5] It has also covered swatting,[6] IsAnybodyDown?,[7] Prenda Law,[8] scam letters,[9] and SLAPP issues.[10] The blog sometimes helps arrange pro bono counsel for affected bloggers (the "Popehat Signal"),[11] including PZ Myers.[12]

It has been repeatedly linked by Boing Boing, Instapundit, John Scalzi, Techdirt, and others and was included in the ABA Journal "Blawg 100" in 2011,[13] 2012,[14] 2013,[15] and 2014.[16] In 2015, Popehat was inducted into the ABA Journal Blawg Hall of Fame.[17]

The blog was originally anonymous[18] but White's identity was eventually uncovered.[19] White, a former assistant US attorney, is a partner at Brown, White and Osborn as of 2025.[20] White's fellow bloggers (anonymous or known to various degrees) have included Adam Steinbaugh,[21] Charles, David, Derrick, Grandy, Marc Randazza, Patrick, and a bovine character named Via Angus.

In January 2009, the Popehat Twitter account was established. Known for updating his handle to reflect Twitter's trending topic of the day, primary tweeter Ken White continues to comment on legal issues in a humorous but substantive way. He is generally an advocate for broad free speech rights and reform of the criminal justice system.[22][23][24]

In August 2020, the original blog website announced that it was being discontinued and would be preserved only as a historical artifact, with new posts going to a replacement Substack site instead.[25] Popehat has since left Substack to publish under its own URL, www.popehat.com.[26]

Popehat's Twitter account was cited in 2021 as helping spearhead sarcastic responses to Texas Representative Dan Crenshaw's form for Internet users to submit stories of "woke" impositions on the military.[27]

Ken White left Twitter in December 2022.[28]

DPRK News Service

Two of the blog's writers, Patrick (who died in September 2022) and Derrick, run a satirical Twitter feed purporting to be the voice of North Korea which parodies the style and content of North Korean state media.[29][30] Greta van Susteren, Slate,[31] the Washington Post, Newsweek,[32] CNN,[33] and Reuters Australia have mistakenly identified the feed as authentic.[34] On the MSNBC television program Morning Joe, journalist Mark Halperin cited the feed as evidence that the government of North Korea was expressing support for Donald Trump.[35][36]

References

  1. ^ Wofford, Taylor (23 December 2014). "Interview with the Authors of the Fake North Korean Twitter Account that Fooled Newsweek". Newsweek. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  2. ^ "Stop Demanding Dumb Answers To Hard Questions". December 7, 2023.
  3. ^ "Posts by author Ken White". Popehat. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
  4. ^ "BlueSky". November 30, 2025.
  5. ^ SHG (2015-11-11). "Cross: Ken White, The Man Beneath The Popehat". Simple Justice. Retrieved 2023-08-17.
  6. ^ "The Kimberlin Saga". Popehat. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
  7. ^ "Is Anybody Down?". Popehat. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
  8. ^ "Prenda Law". Popehat. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
  9. ^ "Anatomy of a Scam". Popehat. 26 September 2011. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
  10. ^ "Anti-SLAPP". Popehat. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
  11. ^ "The Popehat Signal". Popehat. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
  12. ^ "Last word for now". Pharyngula. 13 August 2013.
  13. ^ "The 5th Annual Blawg 100". ABA Journal. 2011-12-01. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
  14. ^ "The 6th Annual Blawg 100". ABA Journal. 2012-12-01. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
  15. ^ "The 7th Annual Blawg 100". ABA Journal. 2013-12-01. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
  16. ^ "The 2014 ABA Journal Blawg 100". ABA Journal. 2014-12-19. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
  17. ^ "The 2015 ABA Journal Blawg 100 Hall of Fame". ABA Journal. 2015-12-01. Retrieved 2015-12-14.
  18. ^ "Why I Blog Anonymously, And Why It's OK: Ed Whelan of NRO Outs Blogger Publius of Obsidian Wings". Popehat. 8 June 2009. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
  19. ^ O'Keefe, Kevin (2011-12-30). "Popehat unmasked : For a good cause". Kevin.lexblog.com. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
  20. ^ "How is the lawyer known as 'Popehat' on Twitter keeping busy during the pandemic?". www.americanbar.org. Retrieved 2023-08-17.
  21. ^ Adam
  22. ^ White, Ken (2017-06-08). "Op-Ed: Actually, hate speech is protected speech". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  23. ^ White, Ken (2019-03-09). "6 Reasons Paul Manafort Got Off So Lightly". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  24. ^ White, Ken (2019-08-13). "Thirty-Two Short Stories About Death in Prison". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  25. ^ Now Posting At Substack
  26. ^ White, Ken (November 11, 2024). "What’s Going To Happen Here At The Hat?". Popehat. Retrieved November 30, 2025.
  27. ^ Horton, Alex (2021-06-03). "Rep. Dan Crenshaw's search for 'woke military' complaints draws ridicule — and war movie quotes". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  28. ^ Goodbye, Twitter
  29. ^ "North Korea's News Service Barely Needs to be Spoofed but This Duo Nails It.". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
  30. ^ "DPRK News Service". Twitter. Retrieved 2015-12-14.
  31. ^ Newman, Lily Hay (22 December 2014). "North Korea's Internet Is Down, and It's Probably Not a Coincidence". Slate.com. Retrieved 2015-12-14.
  32. ^ Avni, Benny (22 December 2014). "U.N. Security Council to Debate North Korea Human Rights". Newsweek. Retrieved 2015-12-14.
  33. ^ Payne, Ed; Acosta, Jim; Liptak, Kevin (4 January 2015). "North Korea pushes back against U.S. sanctions for Sony hack". CNN. Retrieved 2015-12-14.
  34. ^ "Popehat overview of hoax picked up by mainstream media.". Popehat.com. 20 December 2014. Retrieved 2015-12-14.
  35. ^ Pick, Rachel (August 10, 2015). "Why Do Media Outlets Still Fall Victim to Twitter Parody.". motherboard.vice.com. Retrieved 2015-12-14.
  36. ^ Taylor, Adam. "No, North Korea Did Not Offer Support for Noted Scholar Donald Trump.". WashingtonPost.com. Retrieved 2015-12-14.