Tag Archives: constitutional law
Silence Me Before I Kill Again
This is not Islamist Iran or communist Cuba or some tin-pot military dictatorship. Our government does not simply round people up. It cannot deprive people of their liberty without a legal basis to do so, and it has no authority to punish people merely for expressing political views, no matter how odious. Continue reading
Posted in current events
Tagged censorship, constitutional law, free speech, hate speech, media bias
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How War Fighting Became Law Enforcement
Two months after the 1998 bombers of the U.S. embassy in Kenya were convicted, al-Qaeda destroyed the Twin Towers, struck the Pentagon, and was foiled by the martyred patriots of Flight 93 in an attempt to attack the Capitol or the White House. Unlike its predecessor, the Bush administration deemed the attack an act of war, as did Congress, which overwhelmingly authorized the use of military force a week later. American officials were dispatched to foreign lands to conduct military and intelligence operations, not criminal investigations. Prosecution, which in the eight previous years had managed to neutralize fewer than three dozen jihadists, most of them low-level, was aptly judged to have been a provocatively weak response to a transnational terrorist network with global aims and frightful capabilities. Continue reading
More Judicial Activism, Please
“We,” said Queen Victoria, employing the royal plural, “are not amused.” “We,” said the Treasury Department on Tuesday, relishing the royal prerogatives it exercises nowadays, “are gratified that not a single court that reviewed this matter, including the U.S. Supreme, found any fault whatsoever with the handling of this matter by either Chrysler or the U.S. government.” Is it lese-majeste to note that Treasury is being mislea Continue reading
Bill of Rights, Inc.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently decided McDonald v. City of Chicago, a challenge to Chicago’s gun ban. The case has major implications for protecting gun rights at the state level, but its importance goes further than that. Depending on what the Supreme Court does, it could make originalism — relying on the text of the Constitution and its amendments as they were understood when enacted — the accepted standard for interpreting the Bill of Rights, rather than the whims of a handful of justices. Continue reading
Posted in current events
Tagged bill of rights, constitutional law, gun control, supreme court
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Into the Trap With Open Eyes
President Obama’s choice of Judge Sonia Sotomayor was not cynical; she exactly mirrors his judicial philosophy of “empathy.” But it is still a trap. Yet Republicans must still enter the trap — with open eyes and no expectation of gain — not to defeat a nominee but to maintain a principle. Continue reading
‘Empathy’ in Action
Empathy for particular groups can be reconciled with equal justice under law only with smooth words. But not in reality. Continue reading
Posted in current events
Tagged constitution, constitutional law, empathy, sonia sotomayor, supreme court
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