In reading through the comments on my recent post about the electoral result in Maine (The Lessons of Maine), I could not help but notice that many defenders of the ban on same-sex marriage argue that marriage has always been defined as a relationship between a man and a...

The defeat of same-sex marriage in Maine is a real disappointment for those of us who believe that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is the most important civil rights issue of our time. We must remember, though, that changing hearts and minds takes time. Only twenty-five years ago,...

There was a time in the United States, early in the Nineteenth Century, when some judges claimed that Christianity was the rock and foundation of American law. In 1811, for example, New York Chancellor James Kent upheld a blasphemy conviction on the ground that "we are a Christian people, and...

On June 11, 1963, President John F. Kennedy made a momentous civil rights address to the nation. This speech was a pivotal turning point in race relations in the United States. Had Kennedy not had the courage to make that speech, American history would have been different and, quite possibly,...

Ibrahim Parlak is a Kurd who was born and raised in southeastern Turkey. As a young man, he became active in the Kurdish human rights movement both in Turkey and Europe. He was arrested in Turkey in 1988 and held incommunicado and tortured repeatedly in three different Turkish police stations....

In 1568 Montgomery Highway v. City of Hoover, the Supreme Court of Alabama this week upheld the constitutionality of an Alabama statute prohibiting the sale of "any device designed ... primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs." The law was targeted primarily at the sale of such objects as...

In his dramatic "The Dream Lives On" speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Senator Edward Kennedy promised his party and his nation that "Barack Obama will close the book on race, gender, group against group, and straight against gay," a line that brought forth both cheers and tears of...

Now that Justice Sotomayor has officially donned her robe, I'd like to muse a bit about the extraordinary fact that we now have six Catholic justices. This is a great testament to our nation's capacity to grow more tolerant over time. For most of American history, anti-Catholic prejudice was severe...

There's been a lot of chatter lately about the need for "honest" public discussion of race and law enforcement. Unfortunately, we've heard a lot more clamor for "honest" discourse than we've heard honest discourse. Perhaps a frank discussion of the complex relationship between rational judgment and racial prejudice can serve...

White men are neutral, disinterested and objective. At least, that seems to be the view of those commentators who have attacked Sonia Sotomayor for suggesting that a Latino woman might actually reach better decisions than a white man.

This business of life experience is a curious phenomenon. I wasn't...

The May 30, 2009, New York Times contains two interesting articles about Sonia Sotomayor. One deals with her views of affirmative action, the other with her views of campaign finance regulation. According to these articles, Judge Sotomayor has been supportive of both policies. What this means in terms of her...

In his speech on Thursday about Protecting Our Security and Our Values, President Obama touched on many of the challenges posed by the threat of terrorism. I want to address one challenge in particular: What should we do with "detainees at Guantanamo who cannot be prosecuted yet who pose a...

"A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or perhaps both." -- James Madison

President Barack Obama yesterday changed his mind about releasing to the public hundreds of photographs that apparently document abuse of prisoners in...

What criteria will President Obama take into account is selecting his first nominee to the Supreme Court? I think four factors will be especially important to him.

1. High level of intellectual ability. As a professor of constitutional law, Obama fully understands the complexity of a Supreme Court justice's responsibilities...

As we contemplate the appointment of a new Supreme Court justice, two new books, released on May 1 by the American Constitution Society, will be particularly enlightening. A fundamental question in the developing debate over President Obama's eventual nominee concerns judicial philosophy. What does it mean to be a "progressive"...

It would appear from the latest news reports that Justice David Souter is about to part ways with the Supreme Court after a nineteen-year tenure. At the time of his nomination by President George H. W. Bush, David Souter was a virtual unknown. In his long career as a justice...

The Illinois legislature will soon act on the Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act, which would legally recognize civil unions in Illinois. The legislation provides that "persons entering into a civil union" will have "the same obligations, responsibilities, protections and benefits" as married persons. Civil unions would be available...

Sunday morning marked the official opening of the Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie, Illinois. This striking new institution is dedicated to "preserving the legacy of the Holocaust by honoring the memories of those who were lost and by teaching universal lessons that combat hatred, prejudice and indifference."

In a piece in Tuesday's New York Times (March 31, 2009), Adam Liptak addressed the alleged "liberal bias" of the American Bar Association in its evaluation of presidential judicial nominees. ("As the Bar Gets Its Voice Back on Judges, Advice May Ring Familiar.")

The basic premise of the...

As an unabashed civil libertarian who sharply criticized many of the policies of the Bush administration, particularly in the "war on terror," I have high hopes for the administration of President Obama. I know many of the officials in the Department of Justice and I know that they, too, are...