Apr 15, 2006 | Lead Articles, Number 3, Print Edition, Volume 39
In McConnell v. FEC, the Supreme Court largely rejected the plaintiffs claims that the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), commonly known as McCain-Feingold, violated the First Amendment. In deferring to the congressional judgment declaring additional...
Apr 15, 2006 | Lead Articles, Number 3, Print Edition, Volume 39
The headline reads, ”Bush Marks School Laws 2nd Anniversary: White House uses visit to announce budget increases.” In the photograph just below the headline, George Bush is sitting on a wooden bench with three black children. On the blackboard behind...
Apr 15, 2006 | Notes, Number 3, Print Edition, Volume 39
Few would disagree with doctors who claim that the high cost of medical malpractice insurance premiums is unsustainable. The disagreement among legislators and those in the medical community, however, revolves around the cause of the high medical malpractice...
Apr 15, 2006 | Notes, Number 3, Print Edition, Volume 39
Although Nathaniel Hawthorne has forever immortalized the crime of adultery as an icon of Massachusetts’ Puritan heritage, most are surprised to learn that adultery is still a crime in the Commonwealth—a felony, in fact, carrying a maximum sentence of three...
Apr 15, 2006 | Notes, Number 3, Print Edition, Volume 39
The media relies on the First Amendment when publishing truthful information that infringes on an individual’s right to privacy or violates a statute. The media’s First Amendment right, however, is not absolute. In Florida Star v. B.J.F., the Florida...
Apr 15, 2006 | Lead Articles, Number 3, Print Edition, Volume 39
Justice John Paul Stevens began his thirty-first year on the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 at a moment when the highest court faced imminent changes. The death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist ended a remarkably stable, eleven-year ”natural court” period...