Taking a break from his extensive blogging here, the University of Chicago's Richard Epstein has written a trenchant critique of the jury's anti-Vioxx verdict in Ernst v. Merck. Professor Epstein's piece ran in this morning's Wall Street Journal, and he and the Journal have been kind enough to allow us to reprint it here in full. I encourage all our readers to check it out; if you read Professor Epstein's piece, and Ted's posting here, you'll have quite an extensive understanding of what's at issue in this case and why the verdict is so disturbing and problematic.