News & Commentary

RH Reality, a daily publication providing news, commentary, and analysis on reproductive health and reproductive justice issues, just published a podcast that tackles the explosion of the so-called religious freedom bills that have been popping up all over the country. This podcast might be of particular interest to those of us here in Maine because, during this legislation session, we’re facing with a Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of our own.

Yesterday, the New York Times Editorial Board wrote an excellent piece on capital punishment, asserting that any state with the death penalty has a system “warped with injustice and absurdity.”

Senate Democrats have threatened to pull their support from a bipartisan anti-trafficking bill this week. The reason? They just found out that anti-abortion provisions were slipped into the bill language without their knowledge.

Hugging the shore of the St. John River, just a short Tom Brady pass away from Canada, the beautiful little community of Madawaska proudly proclaims itself as the most northeastern town in the United States and one of America’s “four corners.”

Lately, it seems that not a week goes by that there isn’t some news from Ferguson, MO. Sadly, the news this morning was of more bloodshed. Last week, it was the scathing report issued by the Justice Department finding that Ferguson law enforcement engaged in a pattern of biased policing and that municipal courts in the city were operating in a corrupt manner, using their judicial authority to compel payment of fines in order to fill the city’s coffers. Not surprisingly, communities of color were disproportionately more likely to be impacted by these fines.

Recently, two stories have brought renewed attention to the Pledge of Allegiance and students’ rights to choose whether not to recite the pledge in school. 

Update: The voter ID bill is defeated, and the Legislature passes a law to continue providing assistance to some immigrants in need!

Monroe Freedman passed away last week. He was 86 years old. Freedman was a giant in the field of "legal ethics," as a scholar, a teacher, and a lawyer. As his obituary in the NY Times discusses, he life's work was an exploration of the meaning of "zealous advocacy." In particular, Freedman was concerned with the responsibility of the criminal defense attorney, who is often the only line of defense between an individual and a government with vast resources. Should a defense attorney attempt to undermine the credibility of an opposing witness when he knows the witness is telling the truth? Should a defense attorney allow his client to testify when he believes that the client will commit purjury?

The editorial board at the Portland Press Herald just published an editorial expressing their support for LD 319. I wrote about this bill in a post a couple of weeks ago.