A Passing Opportunity for Moral High Ground
October 26, 2010 marked the ten-year anniversary of the passing of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UN SCR1325) yet the United States had not taken any substantial action to promote the text domestically or internationally. The resolution encompasses several massive issues concerning women in the peacemaking process in a brief, three-page document. It states […]
Occupy Boston: Is This What Democracy Looks Like?
“We are the 99%. And so are you!” “Show me what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like!” Across the street from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, protesters hold signs and recite chants denouncing Wall Street tycoons and the American political ruling class. Many call for an end to the war in […]
Death Row: Trusting a Broken System
On March 9, 2011, Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation effectively abolishing the death penalty in the state of Illinois, making it the 16th state without the death penalty.[i] The next day, on March 10, 2011, Johnnie Ray Baston was executed in Ohio for aggravated murder. He is the 9th person to be put to death […]
A Judge’s Neutrality: Recusal in the Supreme Court
Impartiality and equality in the eyes of the law are the cornerstones of the American justice system. In fact, when Cass Gilbert designed the Supreme Court Building in Washington D.C. he etched “Equal Justice Under Law” into the western façade of the building, highlighting the importance of this guiding principle[i]. Ensuring the impartiality of judges […]
The Price of Being Gay: The Constitutionality of DOMA
In a letter to the Speaker of the House, President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder signaled that the White House would no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. In doing so the president took a proactive step for the equal rights of gay men and women across this country. This […]
Cricket: An Innovative Approach to Combat Terrorism
The comparison between sports and violence is far from a novel association. For hundreds of years under the Roman Empire violence was sport and sport was violence. Further, George Orwell wrote in a 1945 essay that sport is little more than “war minus the shooting.”[i] These comparisons can yield modern-day benefits for law enforcement and […]
Creative Commons: The GNU, and You
Over the centuries content producers have searched for ways of protecting their wares. From engraving names on sculpture, to scribing them on art, to the 21st-century development of Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, these methods have only gotten more complex. The overarching idea behind all of the aforementioned methods, however, is a legal term known […]
How Will America Remember Joe Lieberman: Connecticut’s Independent Senator
With his entire extended family behind him and a crowd of several hundred supporters in front of him, Connecticut senator Joseph Lieberman took the podium at a hotel in Stamford, Connecticut on January 19 to announce he would not seek reelection in 2012.[i] Lieberman, 68, has had a tumultuous career in the Senate over the […]
American DREAM: Delayed or Denied?
Over the last decade, policy makers in the United States continually pledged to make reformations to the policies surrounding immigration. This period of time has shown quite clearly that comprehensive reform is almost politically impossible. While the push for full-scale improvements has continued, there has also been an attempt to approach the problem pragmatically. By […]
Computer Geek Piracy: File Sharing and the Law
When a person hears the word “pirate,” what is the first image to come to mind? Is it a swarthy, unkempt scalawag with a parrot on his shoulder and cutlass at his hip? Maybe it is that of a rugged individual searching for the treasure of a lifetime. Others might even say it is Johnny […]