The aspirations of American women to gender equality deserve and require fulfillment if the words and vision of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are meant to be more than rhetorical vessels.
COEUR D'ALENE PRESS | UPDATED 9 YEARS, 4 MONTHS AGO
Gov. Butch Otter's battle to prevent the implementation in Idaho of same-sex marriage, aided by an 11th hour decision of Justice Anthony Kennedy to stay the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' order to proceed with marriage equality, may become the case, or at least one of the cases, that forces …
COEUR D'ALENE PRESS | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 3 MONTHS AGO
The forthcoming celebration of the 225th anniversary of the Judiciary Act of 1789, virtually unrivaled as a statutory cornerstone of American Constitutionalism, shines a light on a law enacted by the First Congress that created the federal judiciary and provided an indispensable tool for the maintenance of the republic and …
COEUR D'ALENE PRESS | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 3 MONTHS AGO
President Obama's befuddling decision to play golf, moments after denouncing ISIS' savage beheading of an American journalist, cast into sharp relief the historical dilemma that has surrounded presidents who enjoy chasing a little white ball across green pastures. From the time that presidents first swung hickory-shafted golf clubs, they have …
COEUR D'ALENE PRESS | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 4 MONTHS AGO
The humanitarian crisis that began brewing recently in Iraq, with the news that the lives of some 40,000 religious minorities were gravely threatened by the self-pronounced Islamic State, generated calls from politicians and members of the media for a quick, resolute military response from President Obama. The demands were predictable. …
COEUR D'ALENE PRESS | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 5 MONTHS AGO
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's remarks at a law school conference on the U.S. Supreme Court's relative indifference to the rights of women in recent years reflects the checkered historical record of American institutions and businesses on the matter of gender equality. Justice Ginsburg's stirring dissents from recent opinions that have …
COEUR D'ALENE PRESS | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 5 MONTHS AGO
The national celebration of Independence Day, marked by parades, picnics and fireworks, not to mention political speeches long on rhetoric and short on content, was characterized in words displayed on countless banners and floats: "keep our freedom." But that trumpet call seems increasingly meaningless - and unattainable - in light …
COEUR D'ALENE PRESS | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 5 MONTHS AGO
Summer reading lists abound. They target teens, teachers and toddlers, the sports crowd, the beach crowd and the couch crowd. Everyone touts a list. Bill Gates and Bill Clinton have lists. The American Library Association has a list. The New York City Public Library has a list. National Public Radio …
COEUR D'ALENE PRESS | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 7 MONTHS AGO
The end of the school year signals the start of summer vacation for Idaho's students, but candidates for office should not seek a hall pass from their responsibility to focus on the number one issue in the fall campaign: education. In this past legislative session, lawmakers agreed that education funding …
COEUR D'ALENE PRESS | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 7 MONTHS AGO
The initial joy that erupted in Hailey and across America when President Barack Obama announced that he had secured the freedom of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, has been overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the illegality of the president's action. In plain terms, President Obama violated a statutory requirement integral to the …
COEUR D'ALENE PRESS | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 7 MONTHS AGO
As I listened to the precocious, eloquent graduating high school senior explore the nature and styles of leadership at home and abroad, the wheels of my memory raced back to a time of delivering lectures about leaders whose idealism drove them to create a better world. Pericles, an ancient Athenian …
COEUR D'ALENE PRESS | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 7 MONTHS AGO
Corporations do not pray, worship, participate in sacramental rituals or engage in other religiously-motivated programs or actions. Yet, this week three corporations, including the crafts store Hobby Lobby, were before the Supreme Court arguing that large, for-profit businesses should not be required to pay for contraceptive devices that would violate …
COEUR D'ALENE PRESS | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AGO
The working assumption that this will be a short, relatively uncontroversial legislative session may prove to be true in the end, but a truncated assembly, spurred by incumbents' desire to return to the campaign trail, may not effectively serve the "people's business" - the very rationale for the creation of …
That's how I always referred to her over the years, whenever she was in the audience where I was speaking, including those occasions when it was my high privilege to deliver lectures, or moderate panels, at the annual Frank Church Symposium. That characterization, which brought a luminous, full smile to …
