SCOTUSBLOG is looking for recognition:

One of the most influential news outlets covering the Supreme Court sets up shop on big decision days not in the pressroom with other reporters, but in the court’s cafeteria.

The justices themselves read the award-winning SCOTUSblog, but unlike other media it has no official status in the marble courthouse.

This curious situation is attributable almost entirely to the unusual, if not unique, circumstances that surround SCOTUSblog publisher Tom Goldstein. The 43-year-old lawyer has made a career out of challenging the established way of doing things, first among Supreme Court advocates and more recently in its pressroom.

Goldstein is in the position of both making and reporting the news.

He is not just the founder, owner and publisher of SCOTUSblog, named for the acronym for the Supreme Court of the United States. He also argues before the court, comments on and analyzes news on MSNBC and is quoted widely in media accounts.

SCOTUSblog has gone from a failed marketing ploy designed to attract more business to the law firm Goldstein started with his wife, Amy Howe, to an indispensable aid to Supreme Court reporters and lawyers. The blog’s Twitter account has 144,000 followers.

The blog is so popular among Supreme Court watchers that it is now helping set the agenda for coverage of the institution.

They do good work. I think they deserve a spot in the pressroom as much as any other media outlet, and more than most.