The most powerful surveillance network in Boston helped to apprehend the Boston Marathon bombers. This unblinking and omniscient eye was not operated by the state, however; instead, private security cameras, in conjunction with a citizen army equipped with iPhones and Androids, were able to record the mayhem wrought in Copley...

As I've written many times on Huffington Post and elsewhere, I have two great loves in life: I love travel, and I love the United States Supreme Court. (OK, I'm pretty passionate about my husband, our two kids, our three dogs, and the guys who play...

It is a dilemma for a mother when what enriches her life negatively impacts her child's.

I have the travel bug. Several times a year, I set out on my own, visiting Kenya or Palau or Chile or Belize. My husband, with whom I just celebrated my sixteenth wedding anniversary,...

Almost fourteen years after the doctor declared, in the wee hours of a hot summer morning, "It's a girl! She's beautiful! Look at those gigantic feet!" my husband and I struggle, as parents and as spouses.

"This is supposed to be a love story," you're thinking. "I...

Thinking about a family ski vacation, but not sure where to go? Out of all the ski resorts I've visited, Winter Park Resort, about 70 miles from the Denver airport, is by far the best for families. This past weekend, my brother and my daughter celebrated their birthdays...

It seems like almost every day now that I'll log onto Facebook and see another friend posting her woes about entering middle age. For so many of the women I know, entering their fifth decade is a cause for hand wringing, a reason to call the plastic surgeon, a call...

I am flying to Belize today, getting ready to help the Mayan people there celebrate the end of the world.

When I left Philadelphia this morning, I did not think that it would really be the end of the world, but rather a welcoming in of a new era.

It...

Much has been made in this election of the president's power as commander-in-chief, head of the executive branch of government, and leader of the free world. Largely ignored, however, has been one of the most important presidential powers of all: the appointment power. If elected president, each candidate would have...

"NYC, what is it about you? You're big, you're loud, you're tough... Still I can't get enough." -- Annie

It's early fall, and I've got itchy feet. The kids and I are back in school, and my husband's adjusting his schedule to do the afternoon ice skating/French horn lessons/playdate/orthodontist/haircut runs....

In the spring of 2003, the phone on Seth Waxman's desk rang. "Will you accept a call from federal prison?" the caller asked. Waxman sighed. It might have been his fifth prisoner call that day. As the former Solicitor General of the United States and a prominent member of the...

For the past two years, my girls have been in different schools -- one in middle, one in elementary. And, without making too big a drama out of it, I have to tell you that it has been a huge pain for my husband and me. We've had to deal...

It was a brilliant, sunny morning on Gull Lake, and at Madden's -- Minnesota's classic family resort -- families were out in full force. Little kids were running around in ruffly butt swimsuits, parents were chasing them back up onto the beach and grandparents were relaxing in lawn...

At first glance, our road trip was all about babies.

In the rafters of the pavilion at Fort Lewis Lodge, a nest of baby barn swallows was trying out its wings.

On the winding roads of Bath County, Virginia, fawns were stumbling around on new...

Most of my family lives near Aurora, Colorado.

My nephews are huge Batman fans.

Luckily, Zac and Caleb are only six and three years old. Friday night, at midnight, they were sound asleep in their beds, dreaming of superheroes.

Me, I'm a Supreme Court scholar, a Philadelphia law professor,...

On my first morning on Oahu, I woke up to a double rainbow over the ocean, right outside my room at the Turtle Bay Resort.

A few nights later, I woke up again, this time to a fireworks display right outside my Aston Waikiki Beach Tower suite.

All the...

"Is John Roberts the most intellectually honest person in the country, or is he a huge [explicative [sic] deleted]?"¹

So asked an email that popped into my inbox on Thursday night, approximately eight hours after the Supreme Court's announcement that the Affordable Care Act was constitutional under the Taxing Clause....

Many observers have commented that the Penn State scandal reminds them of similar incidents within the Catholic Church, but it takes me back to 1984, when I was a junior at Choate Rosemary Hall, a college preparatory school in Connecticut. That spring, two of my fellow students went...

I am the hopelessly harried but crazy-about-my-kids mother of two tween girls.

Do I even need to say more?

Yes, my girls are only 18 months apart in age, and right now they are 11 and 12 ½ years old. I've bragged for years that a huge advantage to popping...

As a newly certified scuba diver, I was looking for a getaway where I could try out my new skills -- then kick back on a rope hammock and watch the boats go by. Mexico? Hawaii? My choices seemed endless, but then a diver friend told me about Belize.

My...

As we headed home from the dinner party on Saturday night, our bellies were full, our spirits mellow after four small cups of wine. From my perspective, at least, it had been a perfect spring day, one full of signs of life and renewal , appropriate for the spirit and...