It was an event for lawyers — a social occasion for those of us who have chosen careers devoted to interpreting and upholding the rules that civilized people use as a substitute for settling our differences by force. A dinner companion turned to me, almost angrily, to ask "Why isn’t the ICLU doing something about these thugs on…
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Curfew
There’s a lot of support for curfews to keep teenagers off the streets at night.
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Making Public Policy
It is said that nature abhors a vacuum. While political observers complain about congressional gridlock, and policy wonks decry the absence of meaningful policy debates by our elected representatives, the vacuum is being filled by the courts–bor more accurately, by those who are…
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Playing by the Rules
Earlier this month, the Star published a letter from Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman, defending his policy of concentrating resources in crime-prone areas against charges of racial insensitivity. He dismissed such concerns –expressed by a prior letter writer–as the "kind of thinking typical of American Civil Liberties…
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Insisting on Impartial Vengence
Indiana is preparing to execute yet another resident of Death Row. Tommie Smith. I know little about Smith. and I leave to theologians, and moral philosophers consideration of the morality of the death penalty. My…
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