Questioning Capital Punishment

December 31, 2006

As doubts grow about the humanity and constitutionality of lethal injection, California, Florida and Maryland have shut down executions. America's flight from the death penalty continues.

Rule of Noose

December 31, 2006

Justice and reconciliation for the victims of Saddam Hussein will not be found at the end of a hangman's rope.

Lost in Connecticut

November 8, 2006

Joe Lieberman won an idiosyncratic victory. He holds his seat despite his relentless support for Iraq, rather than because of it.

Lamont vs. Lieberman, Round 2

October 20, 2006

Lamont now lags behind Lieberman, but the Connecticut electorate is so volatile that the outcome is far from certain.

Say Goodnight, Joe

August 9, 2006

Without a motivated base, fundraising capacity or resonant message, Joe Lieberman is now in free-fall, lacking the strength and credibility to run as an independent.

A President Rebuked

June 29, 2006

The Supreme Court's Hamdan v. Rumsfeld decision is to Bush what the Pentagon Papers were to Nixon: a devastating rebuke of a President who thought he had a blank check and a clear affirmation of human rights and the rule of law.

A Killing Machine Turns 30

June 28, 2006

This summer marks a grim anniversary of a Supreme Court decision to affirm the death penalty and create a bureaucratic killing machine that puts American justice at odds with the Constitution's underlying values.

The Wiretapping Tango

May 24, 2006

The NSA surveillance scandal raises questions about whether phone companies will become pawns of an Administration bent on expanding its power.

The Moussaoui Paradox

May 4, 2006

Justice triumphed over blood vengeance Wednesday as jurors declined to sentence a marginal 9/11 conspirator to death, while one of the real culprits languishes in a secret prison, unlikely to ever come to trial.

Reap the Whirlwind

February 3, 2006

The rise of Samuel Alito and the death of Coretta Scott King mark the end of an era and the abandonment of our civil rights legacy by both political parties.

The Alito Failure

January 19, 2006

As Samuel Alito cruises toward confirmation, the process of vetting him demonstrates the price we pay for one-party government.

Confirmation and Crisis

January 14, 2006

If the Alito confirmation hearings were a test of Democratic strategy, the Alito vote to come is a test of moderate Republican integrity and mettle.

Compromised and Corrupted

January 13, 2006

Samuel Alito and his handlers have crafted a disingenuous campaign that reeks of ethical compromise, bending Senate rules, bending the truth and compromising the confirmation process.

Right-Wing Revelation

January 12, 2006

Samuel Alito's blunt testimony on international law revealed the extremity of his judicial philosophy and carried profound implications for rulings he might make.

Credibility Gap

January 11, 2006

A significant credibility gap opened between Samuel Alito's radical judicial record and his self-portrayal as an open-minded jurist before the Senate Judiciary Committee on his second day of testimony. Senators have reason to scrutinize a recent peer evaluation of Alito's rulings by Yale Law School, which locates him somewhere to the ideological right of Antonin Scalia.

Biography as Destiny

January 10, 2006

On his first day of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Samuel Alito was purely political, focusing on his blue-collar roots and the accomplishments of his immigrant family. But Democratic Senators focused on his judicial record on abortion, voting rights and conflicts of interest.

Hypocrisy Trumps Clemency

December 14, 2005

The refusal of the California governor, who built his fame feeding adolescent fantasies of killing, to grant clemency to a former gang leader who tried to dissuade kids from violence only adds to the widening discomfort over the death penalty in America.

More Leaks, Please!

November 17, 2005

Power-friendly reporters like Judith Miller are easily manipulated by selective leaks. But what we need now is more civil disobedience by whistleblowers exposing renditions, acts of torture and the flagrant abuse of power.

Lessons From the Miers Debacle

October 28, 2005

What have Bush and his allies learned from this sorry epidode? Intellectual substance matters. Executive privilege is not absolute. Roe v. Wade is a bear trap for the GOP.

The Roberts Converts

September 23, 2005

The political chess match between the White House and Senate Democrats over the future of the Supreme Court took on new complexity as three Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to confirm John G. Roberts Jr.

William Rehnquist

September 8, 2005

William Rehnquist showed little regard for the social consequences that followed his unrelenting application of conservative legal theory.

In Rehnquist's Footsteps

September 5, 2005

The death of William Rehnquist, the nomination of John G. Roberts Jr. to replace him and the agony of New Orleans represent a sad symmetry of events.

The Cindy Factor

August 12, 2005

Will one woman's solitary protest become a turning point for a nation disillusioned with a President and his war?

Roberts's Chill Heart

July 28, 2005

Is John Roberts worth a fight?

The Stakes in Roberts's Nomination

July 20, 2005

If you like the Patriot Act and Guantánamo, you'll love John Roberts.

Supreme Court Watch

July 14, 2005

The stand Democrats take on Bush's Supreme Court nominee may well define their legacy.

O'Connor and the Parameters of Possibility

July 6, 2005

It's not an exaggeration to say that O'Connor's resignation poses a conundrum for Republicans.

Free-Speech Fights

February 17, 2005

Gonzales: The Fight Is On

January 5, 2005

The Rehnquist Election

October 26, 2004

This election is a referendum on William Rehnquist's Supreme Court.

Rehnquist, Cambodia & Abu Ghraib

June 25, 2004

The Chief Justice wrote a rationale for Nixon's invasion that is being used to justify torture.

Letter From South Carolina

February 3, 2004

The greatest threat to hopes of defeating Bush remains Democratic business as usual.

Kerry's Army

January 29, 2004

Could Vietnam veterans and their families tip a presidential race?

Ryan's Courage

January 16, 2003

Governor George Ryan's commutations change death-penalty politics forever.

Censorship 101

December 5, 2002

Rethinking the Death Penalty

July 3, 2002

POWs in Legal Limbo

February 7, 2002

Unfriendly Skies

December 20, 2001

A routine day of air travel turns into an ethnic-profiling nightmare.

Executive Obstruction

December 19, 2001

A look at working-class South Boston and its local Osama bin Laden, a mobster named Whitey Bulger, reveals the extent of the White House's mania for secrecy.

Unfriendly Skies

December 18, 2001

A routine day of air travel turns into an ethnic-profiling nightmare.

No Finality Without Fairness

December 9, 2001

Alien's Law

November 29, 2001

Information Lockdown

October 25, 2001

Anthrax Anxiety

October 18, 2001

A few things about the anthrax scare need to be said.

All in the Name of Security

October 4, 2001

Dead Reckoning

July 26, 2001

A global effort to force an end to capital punishment in the US is gaining strength.

Raising the Stakes

July 9, 2001

McVeigh: Done to Death

June 14, 2001

McVeigh: Done to Death

June 12, 2001

'Moral' Execution

June 6, 2001

McVeigh's Last Message

May 17, 2001

If the FBI can "misplace" documents in the most notorious death-penalty case since the Rosenbergs, is it any wonder that nearly 100 innocent people have ended up on death row in recent years?

The Doctor Killers

April 5, 2001

The arrest in France of James Kopp could not have come at a worse time for the Bush Administration.

Thomas Speaks!

February 22, 2001

Block Ashcroft--II

January 4, 2001

A Talk With Governor George Ryan

December 21, 2000

Buchanan-Fulani: New Team?

October 14, 1999

The Guns of Littleton

April 29, 1999

Going for the Gunmakers

February 4, 1999

The Adolescent Lockup

June 19, 1997