While posting about Cheney’s Worldview, Tim Lynch captures the perspective that drives my thinking on subjects such as torture and indefinite detention:
So we shouldn’t let the terrorists see us get “caught up in arguments” about the wisdom of our foreign policy, about whether our country should go to war, about our country’s treaty obligations, [...]

Like the second amendment, the eighth Amendment leaves no room for exceptions.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
There are those who would argue that not all the rights in the Constitution and Bill of Rights apply to non-citizens. Depending on your definition of “rights” there may [...]

The seventh Amendment really intrigues me:
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
In [...]

The news came last week that the California Supreme Court would issue their ruling related to Proposition 8 so I expected to have a reaction to that news today. I saw news this morning that President Obama would make his nomination for a new judge to replace Justice Souter – that news surprised me. Obama [...]

I have written before about our national propensity to use government when it is not the proper tool for the job. Scott summed my point up very succinctly in a recent post:
There is a proper tool for every job. Use of the wrong tool often produces substandard results. Sometimes it is necessary to make do [...]