Of Thee I Sing

This story received a lot of play last week, especially in New York, of course. But what all the stories missed is a point that -- on the Fourth of July of all days -- needs to be made: Making the decision to reverse convictions like these for criminals like that takes courage -- the kind of courage our Founding Fathers knew could exist when judges are insulated from the political process and given life tenure.

Last week's Supreme Court decision in the Hamdan case is another example of why such judicial independence is so important to the maintenance of our freedoms. Sure, lots of people will disagree with the results of these cases, but what we are (or at least should be) in part celebrating today is a legal system that forces our government to live within the rule of law and gives substantial rights and protections to all of us, including Mafia cops and suspected terrorists.

Sure, we can all think of examples when the system has failed in one way or another. But, for today at least, I am going to think about all the times it hasn't.