Published Jan. 7, 2002
AFTER a couple of centuries of successful democratic government, it would appear rather late to sell citizens on the superiority of one-man rule. However, according to a new model law drafted by the federal government for the states, the best cure for terrorism may be a small dose of tyranny. Continue reading “Bioterrorism and a Prescription for Disaster”
Published May 4, 2004
Last week, a New York federal judge refused to dismiss a defamation case that reads like a mix of Dr. Ruth and Dr. Seuss. At its heart is a controversy over what a procurer of prostitutes in Dubai told a “horse whisperer” in Germany who told a gossipmonger in New York who told millions of Americans about former Congress member Gary Condit. Though this might sound like a game of post office for pundits, the stakes are high — for commentators, the Constitution and for Condit. Continue reading “Dominick Dunne, Gary Condit, and the Horse Whisperer”
Published November 6, 2002
“Nothing is too good for our men and women in uniform.”
It may be the world’s most predictable political applause line. It was a central theme of President Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign. With both war and elections looming, it became a virtual mantra among politicians across the country.
This month, however, the Bush administration is waging a little-known battle to preserve a rule that reduces service members to second-class citizens. Continue reading “The Feres Doctrine: Giving our Service Members the Freedom to Sue”
Published October 2004
Where Dwight Eisenhower had the Military-Industrial Complex and Richard Nixon had the Trilateral Commission, George Bush has Karl Rove. If you take all of the conspiracies involving one world order, United Nations black helicopters, fluoridation as mind-control, and Hillary Clinton, and roll them into a pear-shaped figure, you get Karl Rove for liberals. Continue reading “Six Degrees from Karl Rove”
Published October 2001
THERE is an interesting by-product of the bombings on September 11, 2001 that seems to be sweeping the country. In universities and the media, people are learning about Al-Qaida and their religious philosophy. There is a tendency in our country, particularly among academics, to treat all beliefs as worthy of equal merit. It is a type of intellectual relativism that ignores the obvious in favor of the inquiry. Continue reading “Intellectual Relativism and the Al Qaida”
Published 12/17/2003
I recently received a note from one of the few husbands who knows just what his wife wants as a holiday gift. The Army sergeant (who asked to remain anonymous) e-mailed me from Iraq asking my help in finding him a store to buy body armor for his wife.
Both the sergeant and his wife are serving in Iraq, and both have seen action. But, like thousands of U.S. soldiers, his wife was not given the vital ceramic plates for her Kevlar Interceptor vest to protect her from bullet wounds. Instead, he said, she had to scavenge to find plates left behind by Iraqi soldiers — plates of inferior quality that do not properly fit her vest. Continue reading “Body Armor: U.S. Soldiers Lack Best Protective Gear”
Published 5/17/2004
My father is dying from an American political disease. In a nation divided evenly between red and blue states, governmental policies have long been distorted by the gravitational pull of the extremes of the two parties.
For President Bush, policies often have been shaped by his fundamentalist and conservative religious base. While controversial, many of these policies are largely symbolic, such as his unheeded call for an amendment to ban gay marriage. The president’s policy opposing stem-cell research, however, presents a far more deadly concession — one that might secure votes, but at a prohibitive cost of human life. Continue reading “Bush’s Stem-cell Politics Leaves Dad to Wither”
Published 8/8/2004
The soldiers of the 372nd Military Police Company recently came home from Iraq — and some are pretty angry. Made infamous by the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, they have been caricatured as a bunch of thuggish yahoos from the hills of West Virginia and Maryland. Now their entire unit may be deactivated.
They seem, however, unwilling to go quietly, taking their infamy into self-imposed exile. Continue reading “372nd Unit Deserves Better Homecoming”
Published 11/22/2004
It is the most glaring contradiction in our Constitution: a nation of immigrants that excludes anyone who is not born in the United States from becoming president. While long criticized, it went largely unchallenged until Arnold Schwarzenegger became governor of California and his fans discovered that he couldn’t become “The Presinator” because of his Austrian birth.
It is hardly the stuff that inspiring constitutional movements are made of, but, then again, one takes what one can get when it comes to constitutional reform. Continue reading “Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Constitutional Ban on Foreign Born Presidents”
published 12/27/2004
Orientation week can be a daunting and confusing process for any freshman, particularly for the nine new senators and 38 new House members of the 109th Congress. During the recent orientation week on Capitol Hill, one freshman, Representative-elect Al Green, D-Texas, noted “as a neophyte trying to find his way, you need as many people to direct you as you can.”
Indeed, that education is about to begin in earnest, starting with the ethics book included in their orientation kits. On their face, the ethics rules would seem to bar any self-dealing or profit-taking by members. In reality, they actually legalize conduct that would be viewed as grossly unethical or corrupt in the other government branches. For Green and the other neophytes, therefore, the following are four easy lessons on how to earn millions on a government salary. Continue reading “It’s All Legal in the Bizarre World of Congressional Ethics”
Published 1/30/2005
By Jonathan Turley
Have you heard about the guy who injured himself while using his lawn mower as a hedge clipper, and then won $500,000 in a lawsuit against the lawn mower company? How about the woman who threw a soft drink at her boyfriend, slipped on the wet floor, and then won $100,000 in a lawsuit against the restaurant? These are only two of the common examples of lawsuit abuses that are fueling the call for “litigation reform.” They are also completely untrue — part of a growing collection of legal mythologies that are appearing widely in the national media. Continue reading “The Lawn Mower Guy and Other Legal Myths in the Tort Reform Movement”
Pubished 3/22/2005
By Jonathan Turley
During the drafting of the Constitution, the Framers often spoke of the interests of the “body politic” — a term that took on a new and chilling meaning this week in the fight over Terri Schiavo. Laying in a persistent vegetative state in Florida, Schiavo has literally become the body politic — a transcendent symbol claimed by rivals in an ongoing cultural war. Ironically, as each side has struggled to embrace her cause, she has become less real, more personification than person. Continue reading “Terri Schiavo and How Temptation Can Top the Constitution”
Published 4/6/2005
If, like me, you hate sequels, stay away from the Senate floor this month. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., may soon try to change one of the longest congressional traditions in the nation’s history — the 200-year-old right to filibuster. However, unlike the original movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, this modern sequel has the makings of neither good viewing nor good politics.
For many Americans, Frank Capra’s 1939 classic work was their first introduction to the filibuster and contains perhaps the quintessential American film scene. Standing alone on the floor of the U.S. Senate, young Sen. Jefferson Smith refuses to yield to the corrupt plans of his powerful colleagues. Against all odds, he invokes the filibuster — the right of a single person to hold the floor against the world — as long as he can continue to stand and to speak. Continue reading “Mr. Frist Goes to Washington — and the Art of the Filibuster”
Published 10/5/2005
In his announcement of the nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court, President Bush concluded with a simple and direct statement to Congress: “I ask the Senate to review her qualifications thoroughly and fairly and to vote on her nomination promptly.”
On its face, it seems straightforward enough. Like the president, most senators speak of “qualifications” as if the term is self-defining or obvious. Yet, after more than 200 years, neither the Senate nor law professors have agreed on what constitutes a “qualification” for the nation’s highest court. Indeed, looking over the past 157 nominations (and 42 unsuccessful nominations since 1789), there is little consensus on what constitutes a truly qualified person to sit on the court. Continue reading “What Qualifies One for the Supreme Court?”
Published 10/31/2005
The indictment of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, has given the Valerie Plame scandal the pre-requisite indictee, a face for this ongoing drama. What is more troubling, however, has been the absence of a heroic or even positive figure.
On its face, this affair had all of the elements of a blockbuster political drama. An embattled president is accused of lying to the American people to take the country to war. Shadowy political operatives launch a campaign to punish the man who uncovered the lie by destroying the career of his wife, a covert CIA operative. Indeed, even the name — the Valerie Plame affair — carried a certain sexy and intriguing appeal. By this point, Washington should be crawling with book and movie agents except for the one missing element: a single redeeming character. Continue reading “The Plame Scandal and a Story In Search of a Redeeming Character”