Empathy and Indifference in the Choice of Supreme Court Justices

Broadcast on WAMC Northeast Report, May 26, 2009

Even before the nomination just this morning of Judge Sotomayor there has been controversy about what kind of person the new Supreme Court justice should be.

Javaid Iqbal and the Bill of Rights

For broadcast on WAMC Northeast Report, May 19, 2009:

Many of us believe this is a free country because of our Bill of Rights. Tyrants and dictators cannot do what they do to so many unfortunate people of this world. The Constitution and the courts would stop them, and keep us free. Not as long as this Court sits.

David Souter

Broadcast on WAMC Northeast Report, May 12, 2009

David Souter has announced his retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court where he served for nearly two decades. Souter has been one of only two true conservatives on the Roberts Court.

The Second End of Reconstruction

For broadcast on WAMC Northeast Report, May 5, 2009:

There are two cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court that will probably change American civil rights law radically. Four members of the Court have never been friends of civil rights law and have just been waiting for a chance to kill it. A fifth professes concern but has rarely supported it. It’s hard to tell how much of a difference whatever the Court decides will make at this point. But it is not a group of people I trust for a realistic assessment of our anti-discrimination laws.