News & Commentary

I hereby nominate, consider, and elect Idaho student Brady Kissel as the Constitutional Hero of the Week.   

Like nearly half of children with autism spectrum disorder, Krystin Polk regularly attempts to wander from supervised, safe places such as her home or school.

When I was growing up as a kid in the '80s, many of my peers spent their summers on socially-enriching activities, like playing outdoors. I, however, spent most of my summers in front of the TV, watching daytime game shows (I'm an old soul) and, of course, '80s movies.

From an early age most of us are told – if you are in danger, call the police for help. However, towns and cities across the country are sending the opposite message – call for help and you could lose your housing.

I spent much of last week at the Post Theater in Fort Meade, watching the closed-circuit feed of the pre-trial military commissions hearings in the case of Abd al-Rahim Hussayn Muhammed al-Nashiri, who faces the death penalty for his alleged role in the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole.

A coalition of over 70 organizations sent a letter yesterday to President Obama, urging him to support a clean update to our online privacy laws and warning him about the dangers of carving out any exceptions that would give some government agencies warrantless access to our online communications. The message was simple:

Remember that feeling on the very last night of summer vacation or spring break, when it begins to slowly dawn on you that yes, you really do have to go back to school tomorrow. Even worse, you just know that all the homework you didn’t manage to finish before you left will just be sitting there patiently, waiting for you. I’d imagine that’s rather how our Senators and Representatives feel this week, as another recess draws slowly to a close.

The Cornhusker State's discriminatory ban on gay foster parents looks increasingly rickety.

The Judge Rotenberg Center, a residential school in northern Massachusetts, prides itself on teaching students with disabilities who have the most challenging behavioral issues. The school takes kids with severe intellectual disabilities – autism, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and a range of psychiatric disabilities – and then its employees attach electrodes to their arms, legs, and stomach, and shock them into submission.