becoming an enemy of the people
By: Mark Graber
I am posting the below with the permission of
Professor Walter F. Murphy, emeritus of Princeton
University. For those who do not know, Professor
Murphy is easily the most distinguished scholar of
public law in political science. His works on both
constitutional theory and judicial behavior are
classics in the field. Bluntly, legal scholarship
that does not engage many themes in his book,
briefly noted below, Constitutional Democracy, may
be legal, but cannot be said to be scholarship. As
interesting, for present purposes, readers of the
book will discover that Murphy is hardly a
conventional political or legal liberal. While he
holds some opinions, most notably on welfare,
similar to opinions held on the political left, he
is a sharp critic of ROE V. WADE, and supported
the Alito nomination. Apparently these credentials
and others noted below are no longer sufficient to
prevent one from becoming an enemy of the people.
"On 1 March 07, I was scheduled to fly on American
Airlines to Newark, NJ, to attend an academic
conference at Princeton University, designed to
focus on my latest scholarly book, Constitutional
Democracy, published by Johns Hopkins University
Press this past Thanksgiving."
"When I tried to use the curb-side check in at the
Sunport, I was denied a boarding pass because I
was on the Terrorist Watch list. I was instructed
to go inside and talk to a clerk. At this point, I
should note that I am not only the McCormick
Professor of Jurisprudence (emeritus) but also a
retired Marine colonel. I fought in the Korean War
as a young lieutenant, was wounded, and decorated
for heroism. I remained a professional soldier for
more than five years and then accepted a
commission as a reserve office, serving for an
additional 19 years."
"I presented my credentials from the Marine Corps
to a very polite clerk for American Airlines. One
of the two people to whom I talked asked a
question and offered a frightening comment: "Have
you been in any peace marches? We ban a lot of
people from flying because of that." I explained
that I had not so marched but had, in September,
2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and
put on the Web, highly critical of George Bush for
his many violations of the Constitution. "That'll
do it," the man said. "
"After carefully examining my credentials, the
clerk asked if he could take them to TSA
officials. I agreed. He returned about ten minutes
later and said I could have a boarding pass, but
added: "I must warn you, they ' re going to
ransack your luggage." On my return flight, I had
no problem with obtaining a boarding pass, but my
luggage was "lost." Airlines do lose a lot of
luggage and this "loss" could have been a mere
coincidence. In light of previous events, however,
I'm a tad skeptical."
"I confess to having been furious that any
American citizen would be singled out for
governmental harassment because he or she
criticized any elected official, Democrat or
Republican. That harassment is, in and of itself,
a flagrant violation not only of the First
Amendment but also of our entire scheme of
constitutional government. This effort to punish a
critic states my lecture's argument far more
eloquently and forcefully than I ever could.
Further, that an administration headed by two men
who had "had other priorities" than to risk their
own lives when their turn to fight for their
country came up, should brand as a threat to the
United States a person who did not run away but
stood up and fought for his country and was
wounded in battle, goes beyond the outrageous.
Although less lethal, it is of the same evil ilk
as punishing Ambassador Joseph Wilson for
criticizing Bush's false claims by "outing" his
wife, Valerie Plaime, thereby putting at risk her
life as well as the lives of many people with whom
she had had contact as an agent of the CIA. ..."
"I have a personal stake here, but so do all
Americans who take their political system
seriously. Thus I hope you and your colleagues
will take some positive action to bring the
Administration's conduct to the attention of a far
larger, and more influential, audience than I
could hope to reach. "
---------------------------------
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