Jack Fruchtman
At stake: Native American sovereignty
With the nation’s attention focused on abortion, gun safety, and religious liberty, and more recently the lengthy struggle in the House of Representatives to...
Equal rights, fair elections, and the court
This past June, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority made a huge mark: It ended the constitutional right to abortion, restricted the states’ ability to...
The court and the death penalty
The Supreme Court, in the week of Nov. 13, declined to hear or halt the execution of four prisoners on death row in Arizona,...
Ending affirmative action?
Like the debate over abortion rights, affirmative action in college admissions procedures is one of the most controversial political and cultural issues in the...
The court: Narrowing voting rights
The bedrock principle of a democratic order is the right to vote. When election officials restrict an eligible citizen’s voting rights, they take the...
Ron DeSantis’s good fortune, Greg Abbott’s reversal
“Remember, remember always that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.” –President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, address to...
Should the United States have a new Constitution?
The question posed in the title recently surfaced in the New York Times. A conservative House Republican from Texas, Jodey Arrington, introduced legislation directing...
The postal service and abortion
Most women seeking abortions today now go about self-medication by ordering two pills through the mail. According to the Guttmacher Institute, medication abortion is...
Abortion and the right of locomotion
The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly guarantee the freedom of movement. Law enforcement authorities may detain a person from leaving a state if they...
A further reckoning: The Supreme Court’s next term
If last year’s Supreme Court term was full of blockbuster landmark rulings, next year promises more to come. To date, the justices have accepted...
Supreme Court review: Winners, losers, and those in between
The Supreme Court’s term, which ended on June 30, demonstrated the power of the conservative majority that was emboldened after the confirmation of Amy...
After Roe: A grim future for many of our rights
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health infuriated some but delighted others.
The opinion by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. overruling...
American expectations of the Jan. 6 committee
The foundational principle of the American democratic republic is the rule of law. The framers of the Constitution were certain that their new government...
What to do about so many guns
All the Islanders I know who own guns are highly responsible with and knowledgeable about their firearms. That said, editorial cartoonist Drew Sheneman of...
The ‘great replacement’ explained
Many people may now be familiar with the “great replacement” theory, universally used by white supremacists such as Payton Gendron, who drove 200 miles...
The future of Roe, the court, and us
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.’s recently leaked draft opinion overruling Roe v. Wade has amplified the loss of credibility the Supreme Court has suffered...
Peter Ochs, a tribute
Longtime Aquinnah resident Peter Ochs, who died on April 11 in Vienna, Austria, was a Gay Head original.
Thirty years ago, my wife and I...
Russian war crimes
President Biden has called Russian military action in Ukraine war crimes and even declared he held Russian President Vladimir Putin personally responsible. Biden said...
Ginni and Clarence Thomas: conflicts of interest
recuse | ri-ˈkyüz transitive verb
to disqualify (oneself) as judge in a particular case; broadly: to remove (oneself) from participation to avoid a...
Russia (and Putin) in history
In January, I wrote that I hoped that the Russians and Ukrainians could come to a peaceful settlement that would “guarantee Ukrainian integrity and...