Miscellaneous

The Superstore of Ideas: Bush, Goya, Eden, and So Much More!!!

By Anne Skove, Esq.

We once had a friend from Canada who was amazed by the number of choices at the Winn-Dixie in Williamsburg, Virginia. Twenty different brands of canned beans! Ten brands of dried beans! Several more types of bean dip! "Oh my," he would say. Canadian supermarkets didn't have this array. (Or if they do we will soon hear from irate Canadian consumers.)

Jeremy Waldron's review of Anthony Lewis's Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment, New York Review of Books (May 29, 2008), highlights Lewis's point that the marketplace of ideas used to be more country store than Wal-Mart.

Not that there weren't plenty of ideas floating around. It was just that the First Amendment was not interpreted to protect them all. To illustrate, they tell the tale of Colonel Matthew Lyon, who criticized John Adams's presidency and was charged with violating the Sedition Act.

Col. Lyon was convicted by a jury, received a four-month sentence, and had to pay a fine of $1000 (how outrageous a sum in 1798!) before his release. He served time in what Waldron describes as "a tiny, filthy cell reserved mostly for horse thieves and runaway slaves."

According to Lewis, pamphleteers, atheists, and others fared no better.

Could "activist judges" have saved these outspoken citizens? Waldron notes that "federal judges seemed perfectly happy to enforce [the Sedition Act] as long as it lasted. Its demise was the work of elected legislators. When something like seditious libel was revived in the Espionage Act passed in 1917 upon the entry of the United States into World War I, once again the judges were by no means unenthusiastic."

Well, that's the most dangerous branch doing its job, right? Legislators are supposed to nix unhappy laws. But think of the chaos and unconstitutionality a so-called "activist judge" might have helped the country avoid. It may have been difficult (but not impossible, because some dissented) for a judge to notice the inconsistencies.

We are lucky that we live in these times. We can say that David Levine's giant-foreheaded caricature of Lewis makes Lewis look like one of the Pixies in the "Here Comes Your Man" video and not worry about repercussions, much.

So what's our point? It's late, perhaps too late to avoid pointlessness, but here goes:

• One, the First Amendment has a long and interesting history. Read the article or book to learn more.


• Two: we are happy we never violated any sedition-type acts.


• Three: hug an activist judge today!!! You'll be glad you did.

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on May 14, 2008 (boomark / email).