NEWS
By Gregory Kane | March 5, 2005
THE NINE Divines have struck again. Actually, only about five or six justices on our Supreme Court are in full-blown divine mode at any given moment. Of the high court's nine members, only three can be counted on to consistently rule as if they have any sense: Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Associate Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. The others - some of whom have distinguished themselves as eager "penumbra raiders" - need full-immersion civics lessons about how and why the Constitution limits the powers of all three branches of the federal government.
NEWS
By Gail Gibson and Gail Gibson,SUN NATIONAL STAFF | September 21, 2004
When the Justice Department's massive lawsuit against the tobacco industry goes to trial today, the most striking aspect of the case might not be the whopping $280 billion in potential damages the government is seeking or its novel decision to pursue the cigarette makers under racketeering laws originally designed to bring down the Mafia. Instead, what stands out to observers on both sides of the nation's long-running tobacco wars is that the case has made it to trial at all. Brought late in President Bill Clinton's final term, the now five-year-old lawsuit was widely expected to face sudden death under a Republican administration.
NEWS
By Joseph DiCarlo | December 2, 2003
EVERY DAY as I walk along west Towson's quiet, residential streets, I pass a sign in front of someone's house. Not one of the yard sale posters or lost dog notices often seen in this upscale suburban neighborhood, but a peace sign. The sign is small and unobtrusive, yet still manages to look out of place in a community not known for much activism beyond reminding people to keep their dogs on leashes. Its purple background highlights a white dove holding an olive branch next to a large caption that states: "War is not the answer!"
NEWS
February 21, 2003
PLENTY OF John Ashcroft's former Senate colleagues had misgivings when George W. Bush nominated him to be attorney general. They knew him to be more ideological than intellectual, more judgmental than judicious, and altogether more small-minded than what might be hoped for in a candidate for the top domestic Cabinet post. Yet Mr. Ashcroft has not merely lived up to his colleagues' expectations during his first two years in office, he has wildly exceeded them, as documented in a recent profile by The Sun's Michael Hill.
NEWS
February 19, 2003
Drug policies hurt people with medical needs Few Americans realize that the United States may soon be one the few Western countries that uses its justice system to punish otherwise law-abiding citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis ("Reefer madness," editorial, Feb. 9). Evidence of the U.S. government's reefer madness is best exemplified by the kangaroo court trial of Ed Rosenthal, who grew marijuana for medical use. By denying an officer of the city of Oakland the ability to use California's medical marijuana law as a defense, the judge foisted a predetermined guilty verdict onto a misinformed jury.
NEWS
By Jules Witcover | June 12, 2002
WASHINGTON - Civil liberties warriors are once again having a field day over a decision by Attorney General John Ashcroft, this time his sweeping new policy of mass fingerprinting and photographing of foreign visitors. About 100,000 of them coming here each year from countries that may have harbored terrorists and thousands more already in this country are to have their fingers rolled and their mug shots taken in what the critics attack as racial and ethnic profiling. Mr. Ashcroft already was their favorite target for a range of actions out of his Justice Department.