by Tina Grazier
He was a Reagan appointee but Judge Richard Posner has been associated with a number of very liberal ideas such as legalizing marijuana and LSD and the notion that selling babies on the open free market would result in better outcomes than government regulated adoption. The man is a bit eccentric to say the least but even so he managed to shock legal conferees from Australia when he suggested a number of big brother solutions to fighting terrorism. According to this story in The Australian:
A TOP-RANKING US judge has stunned a conference of Australian judges and barristers in Chicago by advocating secret trials for terrorists, more surveillance of Muslim populations across North America and an end to counter-terrorism efforts being “hog-tied” by the US constitution. ** Judge Richard Posner, a supposedly liberal-leaning jurist regarded by many as a future US Supreme Court candidate, said traditional concepts of criminal justice were inadequate to deal with the terrorist threat and the US had “over-invested” in them.
Several quotes from Judge Posner:
“We have to fight terrorism with our strengths, and our strengths evolve around technology, including the technology of surveillance,” ** “We should think of surveillance as preventative, not punitive. We should think of controls that have nothing to do with warrants or traditional criminal justice to prevent abuses.” ** “Criminal justice and war are the two responses we have to terrorism. Each comes with its own legal institutions and doctrines and regimes but the struggle against international terrorism doesn’t fit either very well.” ** “We have a very aggressive media and a huge and complex government where many people in the government are quite willing to talk to the press.”
Discover more about Judge Posner at the site Wikipedia. The Judges thoughts (and those of his co-poster) can be found on his BLOG.
How strong is our will to defeat terroristsand how much do we trust our government?