Balancing Safety and Freedom

Cover of Louis Fisher's booking coming out this month, The Constitution and 9/11 from the University Press of Kansas (ISBN 978-0-7006-1600-8)

He writes,

The announced purpose of U.S. antiterrorist policies after 9/11 was to bring democracy and the rule of law to the Middle East. At home, those values were regularly threatened by illegal, unconstitutional, secret, and unaccountable programs. The Bush administration claimed that terrorists hate America for its freedoms, yet its actions jeopardized those freedoms and brought the reputation of the United States lower in the eyes of the world.

On October 17, 2008, those of you in VT or nearby states might want to be over at the Chase Community Center of the Vermont Law School in South Royalton to attend the Vermont Law Review Symposium: Examining Our Priorities: Balancing National Security With Other Fundamental Values, where Fisher will be the keynote speaker.

He's a constitutional law scholar with the Library of Congress, whom I got to hear speak in DC, along with Charlie Savage. Panel topics will include immigration, environmental law, protecting library records, and the right to dissent. Another speaker will be reporter Will Potter on "The Threat of Unpopular Ideas,” including domestic “eco-terrorism” and “domestic terrorism” laws like the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.

Republican Renzi to run again in Arizona despite indictment

As long ago as April 29, 2007, the conservative East Valley Tribune was calling for Rick Renzi's resignation:

Renzi will be hounded by political opportunists looking to further
undermine his status, and his constituents will receive less than they deserve
while he rallies to protect himself.

The better choice, the honorable choice, would be for Renzi to step aside and let someone else come forward to represent his district and our state in Congress.

Although initially indicating that he might do so and he was indicted February 23 on 35 counts, Ben Pershing of The Washington Post reported that Renzi's office announced yesterday that he intended to run for re-election, although no press release showed up on his website, as of today.

*

Today, I attended a luncheon and panel discussion at the National Press Club on the unitary executive sponsored by the Constitution Project. See my post of February 18 for the details. I had the opportunity to talk to Charlie Savage and Louis Fisher, two men whose writing and research I admire greatly.