Tribe fretted, "My well-meaning effort to write a book accessible to a lay audience through the omission of footnotes or endnotes – in contrast to the practice I have always followed in my scholarly writing – came at an unacceptable cost: my failure to attribute some of the material the Weekly Standard identified."

Abraham told the Boston Globe that he had known of the plagiarism for 20 years, that he felt betrayed, that Tribe's actions were "inexcusable" but that he would accept the apology.

He told the Weekly Standard, "I'm sure his book sold better than mine," and added that Tribe was "a big mahatma and thinks he can get away with this sort of thing."

Heavens. Does this mean John Kerry won't ask Tribe to help him steal the election this year?

Editor's note: