World Serious

In this season of the Major League Baseball World Series, I am sharing a confession I wrote in October 1985.  The New York Times took a pass, but I did get a lovely note from the opinion page editor.  Those were the days. With the World Series upon us, it is time for me to … Read more

Brown v. Board of Education at 65

65 years ago the Supreme Court of the United States issued the decision in Brown v. Board of Education, a historic decision on desegregation in public education, outlawing so-called separate but equal discrimination in public education.  

One might think that the issue was well-settled, but Brown is once again in the news. As a Washington Post op-ed noted yesterday: “More than two dozen of President Trump’s judicial nominees have declined to answer whether Brown v. Board of Education was properly decided.”

On the 50th anniversary of the Brown decision, I wrote an essay for Philadelphia’s newspaper serving the legal community, The Legal Intelligencer.  On the occasion of the 65th anniversary, I am republishing that essay.1


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  1.   At the time of her death in March 2018, I also wrote of Linda Brown, whose father joined the eponymous law suit on her behalf. []

January 22, 1973, at about 10 AM

Memory is strange.  My son, Dan, has a savant-like ability to precisely place and describe even the most mundane events, going back to nursery school.  My recall of even important moments is foggier.  Unlike most people born before 1960, I do not remember where I was when I learned that John F. Kennedy had been shot.

However, one very distinct memory I have from my youth is where I was on January 22, 1973, at about 10 AM.

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Gideon v. Wainwright: Facts to Know and Tell

In Philadelphia and across the country, lawyers, the judiciary and politicians are examining the quality and adequacy of funding for legal representation of indigent criminal defendants.  The case that confirmed the broad right to such representation was Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963).  This month we commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the decision.  Here … Read more