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Supreme Court to take up “honest services” law
The New York Times reports that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the constitutionality of the “honest services” law, a vague federal statute that creates all kinds of opportunities for prosecutorial...
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Was Goldman’s sleazy behavior really illegal?
Goldman Sachs founder Marcus Goldman Keep an eye on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Goldman Sachs. It’s hard to imagine a less sympathetic defendant than Goldman. That may be the...
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Harvey Silverglate on the Goldman case
Harvey Silverglate checks in on the Goldman Sachs case: I think you have it just right. The ideologues, especially some New York Times reporters and liberal columnists, would like to deem Goldman’s...
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Presenting the 13th annual Phoenix Muzzle Awards
Just in time for your Fourth of July celebrations, we present the 13th annual Muzzle Awards, published in the Phoenix newspapers of Boston, Portland and Providence. Starting in 1998, I’ve been rounding...
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The trouble with federal plea bargains
My friend and occasional collaborator Harvey Silverglate has a terrific commentary in the Boston Globe on the plea deal reached by federal prosecutors with Joseph Lally in the corruption case against...
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Four smart people, two debates
In today’s Boston Globe, civil-liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate and Globe columnist Scot Lehigh take on the issue of former Massachusetts Senate president Bill Bulger’s conduct with regard to his...
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First Amendment rights and wrongs
In an effort to respect the First Amendment‘s guarantee of freedom of religion, the Upton selectmen have given short shrift to another provision of the First Amendment: “the right of the people...
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How news execs can avoid the online ad meltdown
Writing in Technology Review, the noted media critic Michael Wolff says Facebook is doomed — and is going to take the Web down with it. The reason: online advertising, ubiquitous and not particularly...
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Aaron Swartz, Carmen Ortiz and the meaning of justice
Aaron Swartz in January 2012 An earlier version of this commentary was published on Sunday at The Huffington Post. The suicide of Internet activist Aaron Swartz has prompted a wave of revulsion...
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A pair of heartfelt tributes to the Boston Phoenix
I want to share with you two extraordinary reflections on the Boston Phoenix and what its loss means to the city and the region. There have been a lot of such reminiscences, and many of them have been...
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Talking about the Phoenix tonight on WBZ
I’ll be talking about the late, great Boston Phoenix tonight from 9 to 10 p.m. on “NightSide with Dan Rea,” on WBZ Radio (AM 1030). Also in studio will be longtime Phoenix contributor Harvey...
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Edward Snowden and the peril facing journalism
Edward Snowden This commentary was published earlier at The Huffington Post. The editors of The New York Times appear to have forgotten an important principle: the First Amendment is for all of us, and...
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Get ready for the 16th Annual Muzzle Awards
When The Boston Phoenix ceased publication in March, I started casting about for a new home for the Muzzle Awards — an annual Fourth of July round-up of outrages against free speech in New England that...
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‘Material support’ and the case of Tarek Mehanna
Tarek Mehanna In today’s Boston Globe, civil-liberties lawyer and friend of Media Nation Harvey Silverglate explains in chilling detail the constitutional underpinnings — or, rather, the absence of...
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Swartz case leads Media Nation’s top 10 of 2013
Aaron Swartz speaking in 2012 Last January, not long after the young Internet genius Aaron Swartz committed suicide, civil-liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate wrote powerfully about the abusive...
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On Greenwald, Kinsley is both right and wrong
Michael Kinsley A few thoughts about Michael Kinsley’s much-criticized New York Times review of Glenn Greenwald’s book “No Place to Hide,” an account of his role in the Edward Snowden leaks. Kinsley is...
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Presenting the 17th Annual New England Muzzle Awards
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz (again) might consider running the other way when we try to present them with our...
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Public media trade site takes note of Muzzles’ new home
Peter Kadzis, senior editor of WGBH News, with Web producers Abbie Ruzicka and Brendan Lynch. Current, the trade website for people in public media, has posted a nice feature on the New England Muzzle...
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Your must-read on the Probation Department case
As you may have heard, former state Probation Department commissioner John O’Brien and two underlings have been convicted in federal court of charges related to patronage. In Massachusetts Lawyers...
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Where Boston’s papers stand on death for Tsarnaev
The Boston Globe today offers some powerful arguments against executing convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Metro columnists Kevin Cullen and Yvonne Abraham weigh in, as do the paper’s...
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