Brian Levin, J.D., 11.13.2009
Director, Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, California State University
For Obama, the ability to showcase our justice system in a case involving one of the world's most reviled accused terrorists represents an important opportunity to define America before history and the world.
Youth Radio -- Youth Media International, 11.05.2009
Youth Radio/Youth Media International (YMI)
How the Supreme Court rules in two cases concerning juvenile incarceration could determine whether sentencing juveniles to life without parole is cruel and unusual punishment.
Diane Tucker, 11.09.2009
Writer/producer/director living in Washington DC
Last week Tom Brokaw presented a human rights award to Gabriel Gonzalez. The thoughtful young man then flew home to Colombia, where he is charged with being a terrorist and faces seven years in prison.
Maia Szalavitz, 11.04.2009
neuroscience journalist
A series of investigations could spell the beginning of the end for the billion dollar, taxpayer funded troubled teen industry.
John Terzano, 11.05.2009
President, The Justice Project
Despite the great power of prosecutors, few are held accountable for violations of their ethical obligations.
Rep. John Conyers, 11.03.2009
Chairman, House Judiciary Committee
Good intentions are not enough to preserve our liberty, and the current PATRIOT Act simply grants too much unchecked authority to our government.
Dennis A. Henigan, 11.02.2009
Brady Center Vice President and Author of "Lethal Logic"
We know that individuals can defy the law. Can a state legislature defy the law? When it comes to the gun issue, apparently it can.
I refer to the ...
Jeff Schweitzer, 10.21.2009
Marine Biologist and Former Clinton White House Science Advisor
Carl Sagan famously said that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. The claim that killing prisoners acts as a deterrent or keeps police safe is indeed extraordinary.
Andy Worthington, 10.20.2009
Journalist and author of "The Guantanamo Files"
In briefs, the battle lines have been drawn. On the one hand is the government, endorsing Bush-era policies. And for the Uighurs, there is a Boston-based attorney and his team.
Alison Parker, 10.16.2009
Deputy Director, U.S. Division of Human Rigths Watch
Every day the U.S. government is forced to grapple with the consequences of harsh and sweeping immigration laws passed by Congress 13 years ago. And Jose Padilla is the latest senseless case.
Peter Henne, 10.15.2009
Security Fellow, Truman National Security Project
Progressive Christians will never whole-heartedly embrace Democrats as long we feel the need to justify our faith during waves of Left-Right tensions over religious symbols.
Judge H. Lee Sarokin, 10.14.2009
Retired in 1996 after 17 years on the federal bench
In earlier cases, the Supreme Court has created the myth that deportation is not a form of criminal punishment but rather a civil remedy aimed at excluding unwanted aliens.
Kenneth C. Davis, 10.12.2009
Author of Don't Know Much About History, www.dontknowmuch.com
The litany of sectarian killings that has been such a grotesque piece of America's "hidden history" is the reason that some of the Framers thought the First Amendment was so necessary.
Andy Worthington, 10.09.2009
Journalist and author of "The Guantanamo Files"
Lt. Col. David Frakt said Congress is still behaving unconstitutionally with regard to the right of the Executive branch and the Judiciary to order the release of prisoners from Guantanamo.
Geoffrey R. Stone, 10.09.2009
Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago
Justice Scalia takes umbrage at the suggestion that an eight-foot-high Christian cross, erected as a memorial to soldiers killed in military service, violates the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.
Rory O'Connor, 10.08.2009
Director, Producer and Writer of "The Resurrection of Reverend Moon."
And when it comes to television, everybody's apparently a programming expert -- from Wall Street titans to Supreme Court Justices.
David Weinberger, 10.08.2009
Writer, Fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center
Justice Scalia is right that it's intended to honor all the war dead. The problem is the assumption that you honor all war dead by putting up the religious symbols honored by some.
Rob Fishman, 10.07.2009
Associate Blog Editor
It's clear that Cameron Todd Willingham was (mis)tried by a kangaroo court, but will justice be better served by the media zoo that's ensued?
Mike Papantonio, 10.07.2009
Senior partner of Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Echsner & Proctor
In the 1980's, Bayer Corporation produced a medicine that was supposed to improve the lives of hemophiliacs. Bayer didn't tell those hemophiliacs th...
Geoffrey R. Stone, 10.04.2009
Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago
Suppose the state made it a crime to masturbate. It is difficult to believe that a nation dedicated to "the pursuit of happiness" and the freedom, autonomy and privacy of the individual could possibly allow such a law.
Mike Quigley, 10.02.2009
Congressman for Illinois' 5th District
The Supreme Court has agreed to review McDonald vs. City of Chicago, a case that challenges whether or not our local handgun ban is legal. It is a development that deeply concerns me.