The pervasiveness of Wikipedia is only increasing. The New York Times reports on judges citing Wikipedia in their rulings:

A simple search of published court decisions shows that Wikipedia is frequently cited by judges around the country, involving serious issues and the bizarre — such as a 2005 tax case before the Tennessee Court of Appeals concerning the definition of “beverage” that involved hundreds of thousands of dollars, and, just this week, a case in Federal District Court in Florida that involved the term “booty music” as played during a wet T-shirt contest.

More than 100 judicial rulings have relied on Wikipedia, beginning in 2004, including 13 from circuit courts of appeal, one step below the Supreme Court. (The Supreme Court thus far has never cited Wikipedia.)

Unrelated: Is it just me, or is the permalink feature that the New York Times had launched gone? Guess they want to cede even more ground to Wikipedia.

Update: Never mind the comments about permalinks. The article tools weren’t showing up because I had JavaScript turned off.