Daniel Koffler
Roe v. Wade v. Liberty, the Roberts backstory

A president has a right to nominate judges who share his view of the scope of government authority. This president’s view, argued before federal courts […]

Pope’s legacy is a few shades short of golden

It would be nice to see, if only once, credit for the overthrow of Eastern Europe’s Soviet political apparatus awarded to the captive peoples who, […]

From TV to MLB, a field day for petty tyrants

In his famous speech to the 1964 Republican National Convention, Barry Goldwater denounced “those who elevate the state and downgrade the citizen.” He was referring […]

For Jews, vital line divides self-criticism and self-hate

Neoconservatives are as entitled as anyone else to a political creation myth. Unfortunately for them, if Yale computer science professor David Gelernter’s Feb. 7 article […]

For U.S., language is complicit in ‘torture’

In November 2003, Manadel al Jamadi, one of the CIA’s so-called “ghost detainees,” died at Abu Ghraib prison. Military authorities classified his death as a […]

Privatization: Bush-style socialism at work

Since President Bush refuses to say exactly what his Social Security policy is, on the grounds that he won’t be tricked into arguing with himself, […]

In defense of Summers: why equal isn’t identical

By my count, Harvard president Lawrence Summers has now apologized about a half dozen times for his remarks at a conference in January on the […]

Secular mandate: why to teach the Bible

Last October, by a margin of six to three, the school board of Dover, Penn., voted to add references to “intelligent design theory” into its […]

In war against jihad, tolerance is no weapon

Christopher Ashley did a commendable job last month (“In Holland, holy war from the secular side,” 12/2) describing the grisly slaying on Nov. 2 of […]

How voting the right ticket became a ticket to salvation

In his Oct. 27 column, “The left should start having faith in Bush’s faith,” Mike Slater, parroting Sen. Joseph Lieberman, wrote that “[t]he First Amendment […]

For Dems, best path is neither left nor right

There are dangers of reading both too much and too little into the outcome of this year’s presidential election. On the former count, the fact […]