Letters to the Editor

Obama, the Right and defendants' rights There is much criticism of the Supreme Court for denying the right of DNA testing, but the Obama DOJ supported that Glenn Greenwald [2009-06-20]

• That amicus curiae brief

  Glenn -- it is vitally important that you comment on the amicus curiae brief in this case, in which attorneys general and various other figures from across the country, from Jerry Brown of California to Tom Miller of Iowa, supported this decision.

  A real question needs to be asked, thusly -- why such broad support from the Democratic Party for such a massive punt on civil rights by the Supreme Court? I would be particularly interested to hear views on two hypotheses of mine. The first is that the generally bureaucratic, civil service, non-customer-oriented, non-citizen-oriented, cover-your-ass culture prevalent in much of the Democratic Party is rearing its head here as prosecutors don't want to be placed on the hook for mistakes or misconduct by new technology. The second, more ominous reading, is that rather like New Labour in England, the US Democrats all the way from the hard left to the center are in general supporting authoritarianism as a central tool in the war on crime.

  -- decisivemoment
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  Permalink Flag Saturday, June 20, 2009 12:55 PM
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