• In Strip Search Case, Clarence Thomas Shows He's "Off the Grid"

    If ever we needed a concrete of example of what’s at stake when it comes to Supreme Court appointments, this week’s decision in Safford United School District #1 v. Redding fits the bill. This is the case from Arizona involving a 13 year-old middle school student who was strip-searched at school on suspicion of having…

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  • Court Saves Voting Rights Act and Itself

    It would be difficult to overstate the significance and revelatory import of the Supreme Court’s long-awaited decision in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District (NAMUD) v. Holder —the case that challenged the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. We learn that the conservative plurality on the court—minus Justice ClarenceThomas—has a pretty good sense…

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  • Brown v. Board in Middle Age

    Given his seeming reluctance to explicitly draw attention to the historic nature of his election as the first black president of the United States, Barack Obama’s Sunday commencement address at Notre Dame was notable for his mention not only his presidency as a racial milestone, but also for his acknowledgment of the 55th anniversary of…

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  • Becoming My Own Advocate

    I was first placed in foster care at the age of 6 after my mom gave me away to a friend who abused me physically, mentally and emotionally. That was the beginning of a painfully long relationship with the foster care system, marked by 11 different placements, nine different schools and countless attempts to find…

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