Notable Quotes, Mar.-Apr. 2006

Richard Bonnie was quoted in a 3/17 Richmond Times Dispatch article about the Zacarias Moussaoui case, in which a government lawyer disregarded rules preventing witnesses from tailoring their testimony to that of earlier witnesses. "The rules are intended to insulate witnesses from one another to prevent the possibility of contamination," he said. Lawyers can tell clients what questions to expect but not how to answer them, he explained. "You discuss testimony, but it's wrong if you try to shape the testimony." In the April issue of the ABA Journal, Bonnie commented on a pending Supreme Court case on the insanity defense, Clark v. Arizona. He noted that the Court had rejected voluntary intoxication as a defense on policy grounds, but added that the "same policy arguments don't apply if you have a mental illness over which you have no control." In a 4/16 Associated Press story on the Clark case, Bonnie said "There are some cases where a person was so mentally disturbed at the time of the offense that it would be inhumane and morally objectionable to convict and punish them." In a 4/24 NPR Morning Edition story about closing arguments in the Moussaoui trial, Bonnie said that the prosecution's challenge was "basically to focus the jury's attention, like a laser, on the crime and on the defendant's deliberate choices to commit it," and that it was up to defense counsel to explain why mental illness and other mitigating factors should be considered.

Rosa Brooks continued her weekly op-ed columns for the Los Angeles Times, writing about port security, immigration reform, stay-at-home and working mothers, calls for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation, and Russia's sale to Iran of air defense missile systems. In her 3/24 column, she said that the U.S. is losing the war on terror "because the cavemen in the Bush administration don't understand the difference between strength and bellicosity, and they don't understand that increased bellicosity will only compound the already grave threat of terrorism." Brooks wrote about the mass demonstrations by immigrants in her 4/14 column. "Effective protests take money, endurance and courage," she wrote. "Protesters have to take time off from work; they have to travel to distant cities and come up with somewhere to sleep and eat; they have to risk encounters with police who may not always distinguish between peaceful protesters and those who are breaking the law. . . . This may explain why so few Americans are willing to express their discontent through public protest. As with so much unappealing work here in the U.S.A., we leave that kind of thing to the immigrants."

George Cohen was quoted in a 3/11 Fort Worth Star-Telegram article about whether federal antitrust laws would prohibit a meeting between American Airlines and Southwest Airlines about a law limiting interstate air service from Dallas Love Field. Noting that legal precedent allows competing businesses to propose legislation or regulation if they are not conspiring to fix prices or divide up market share, Cohen said that if the airlines "work out a compromise and ask Congress to enact a statute, then they're protected."

A. E. Dick Howard was quoted in an 3/2 Virginian-Pilot editorial about an opinion by Virginia Attorney General McDonnell stating that Governor Kaine's order outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation doesn't apply to the legislative or judicial branches of state government. "That is clearly not the operative part of the order," he said, "and I think it's a real stretch to say it goes beyond the executive branch. It's overkill on the part of the opinion to sweep as widely as it does." In a 3/19 Roanoke Times article about the proposed state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, Howard noted that it "is very unusual to amend a state constitution in a way that limits rights. Most provisions either create or enlarge rights, for example, to forbid discrimination on the basis of sex." Howard was also quoted in several articles about the possible shutdown of Virginia state government due to the budget stalemate. In the 4/8 Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, he noted that constitutional law relies on certain inherent common-sense principles. "Is the governor obliged to stand by and send the state police home, close down state hospitals, open the doors to state prisons? The common sense answer to that is no," he said. "The constitution is not a suicide pact." In the 4/16 Newport News Daily Press, Howard acknowledged that he was emotionally torn about what would happen if Virginia entered a new fiscal year without a budget. As a scholar, he said, "I'd be fascinated to know what the answer would be. As a citizen of Virginia, I hope I don't find out." In the 4/30 Washington Post, Howard noted that there is also a political motivation for Governor Kaine to keep the doors of government open. "Teddy Roosevelt talked about the bully pulpit," he said. "This is one of those cases where the governor can look like the knight-errant riding to the rescue."

John Jeffries was quoted in a 3/19 Lynchburg News & Advance article about lawyers' allegations of prejudicial press coverage in criminal cases, in order to move trials to locations with impartial juries. He said that it is unusual for judges to consider moving a trial in all but the most high-profile cases, and noted that it's even more rare for prosecutors to make such a motion. "I think you can say that is a reversal of the usual circumstance," he said.

Michael Klarman was quoted in a 4/23 Boston Globe article about challenges to the Supreme Court's position as final arbiter of the Constitution. "Until the 20th century," he said, "I don't think anyone would have been provoked by the idea the Supreme Court wasn't the last word" when it comes to understanding the Constitution.

David Martin appeared on NPR's All Things Considered on 3/27 to explain basic issues in immigration reform. If, as proposed, it became a a felony to be in the country illegally, he said, "there's real reason for skepticism as to whether federal prosecutors would take very many of those cases. They're swamped with a lot of other business. My experience has been that a simple violation of this kind is a low priority." In the 4/3 Legal Times, Martin expressed concern about a plan to have jurisdiction over all immigration appeals transferred the Federal Circuit. He noted that the immigration docket had "an enormous amount of cases," more than 12,000 a year. "It's an area where it seems rather important to issue timely decisions on appeals." In the 4/12 Las Vegas Sun, Martin disputed the notion that having one court hear immigration cases would clarify the case law. He said splits among the circuits are part of a healthy judiciary because "deliberation by several courts helps to think through the best way ultimately to resolve the issue."

Robert O'Neil was quoted in a 3/3 Chronicle of Higher Education article about the resignation of Harvard University president Lawrence Summers. He explained that Summers failed to realize that his academic freedom as an economist was different from that as university president. "Just as there is no such thing as the pope making an offhand comment -- he's always the pope -- I would say the president of a major university can never speak other than ex officio," he said. "Right down to the end, I'm not sure that Larry Summers ever really appreciated this distinction." O'Neil was also quoted in coverage of the Thomas Jefferson Center's annual Muzzle Awards for threats to First Amendment rights. In the 4/6 Daily Progress, he explained the background of the awards. "The phrase originally used was an 'enemies list,' " he said. "We thought it was a great idea, but we didn't want to use a term like 'enemies list,' because that would imply a sort of McCarthyism connotation." In the 4/11 Daily Progress, he discussed an award to hecklers who disrupted conservative commentator Ann Coulter's speech at the University of Connecticut. "You certainly have a right to express your displeasure with the speaker, up to a point where doing so makes it impossible for her to express her message and others from hearing," he said. In the 4/21 Philadelphia Inquirer, O'Neil discussed whether a high school's ban on antigay expression violated free-speech rights. "There was a time when there was a high level of judicial deference to a school policy that was designed to keep religious tensions out of schools," he said. "But in the most recent period the courts have been much less sensitive to schools' desire for restrictions and much more protective of student speech."

Robert Turner's congressional testimony was quoted in several stories about the Bush administration's program of warrantless surveillance. In the 4/1 Richmond Times Dispatch, he noted that "every wartime leader going back to George Washington when he authorized the opening of British mail coming into the United States during the American Revolution, has done this kind of behavior. It's essential to the successful conduct of war." He noted in the 4/3 Christian Science Monitor that "Congress, in the wake of Vietnam, broke the law - not a statute, but the Constitution - in going after the president's control of foreign intelligence. That was one of many acts that usurped presidential power." Turner also wrote a commentary for the 4/30 Washington Times on lessons for Iraq on the 31st anniversary of the fall of Saigon. "Had we simply abandoned Indochina in 1965, we might have found ourselves confronting a dozen new "Vietnams" in Africa, Asia and Latin America -- wars we could not have won. The outcome of the Cold War might well have been different," he wrote. "The critics who marched in the streets or gave angry speeches in Congress were terribly wrong when they alleged that ending aid to the people of Indochina would promote human rights and 'stop the killing.' . . . I don't know whether we should have gone into Iraq. But that is not the issue we face. We made that decision, by an overwhelming consensus, and the issue is whether we will once again abandon those we have pledged to help."

G. Edward White was quoted in a 3/1 Agence France Presse article about the World Baseball Classic and America's attempt to globalize its national sport. "I don't think it's merely a matter of pushing buttons and creating a market for baseball as with Starbucks," he said. "It's a sport where a lot of people stand around and watch things happen. It's a sport where there's a high display of error in public, compared with soccer or basketball."

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