Yesterday’s New York Times had a special section devoted to the 10th anniversary of the disaster.
Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for the Times, had an interesting review of our civil liberties—in what ways they’ve been curtailed, where they haven’t, etc.
I really like Liptak but I have strong feelings about his newspaper’s “balanced approach” to political coverage, so was not surprised to find that Liptak, in keeping with the Times’s mild-mannered reporter shtick, didn’t duck into a, well, there are no phone booths but a men’s room or something, strip off his glasses and his suit and become a mighty superhero.
I found myself unusually self-aware while reading the piece. I’ve become so suspicious of certain experts who are quoted as gloss or confirmation of a POV, and Liptak didn’t disappoint, quoting John Yoo, I guess to balance Susan Herman, president of the ACLU. For what it’s worth, he quoted Herman first and gave her a lot more space. I suppose we could read this as a brave stand.
Still, it is The Times, i.e., the only thorough newspaper around, so the piece is worth reading: The 9/11 Decade – Civil Liberties, Before and After – NYTimes.com.