Slobodan Milosevic’s death by heart attack robs the world of the satisfaction of seeing him convicted of his terrible crimes against humanity. Those who looked to the International War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague for justice in his case will be denied that satisfaction.

By now, any observer with a modicum of moral insight is aware that marriage is an institution in crisis. Nevertheless, one of the most significant factors contributing to this crisis is often overlooked, and that one factor has led to the breakup of more marriages than any other–no-fault divorce.

Historian Taylor Branch has now completed his massive and magisterial chronicle of the civil rights era with the much-awaited release of Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years 1965-1968. Canaan’s Edge is the third volume of Branch’s trilogy, and the three volumes are now the definitive account of this crucial era in America’s history. [Parting the Waters, Branch's first volume, won the Pulitzer Prize.]

Authors Jon D. Hanson and Adam Benforado argue that structural, intellectual, and social factors all play a part in the leftward drift evident in so many justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. Their argument appears in “The Drifters: Why the Supreme Court Makes Justices More Liberal,” published in the January/February 2006 issue of the Boston Review.

“One of the indispensable matters of Western Civilization is the rule of law. That rule is central to democratic government, a vigorous economy, and individual liberty.” With those words, Judge Robert H. Bork affirms the rule of law–and points to the important role played by judges. The rule of law, he argues, “requires that the law be understood to have force and moral weight of its own, independent of the political and cultural struggles of the moment.” That is another way of saying that the rule of law, when it is observed, guarantees the supremacy of process in political affairs; self-government, stability, and safety depend on that supremacy.

Uriah Kriegel, who teaches philosophy at the University of Arizona, reports that slavery is alive and flourishing in some regions of the world. “Not many Americans know it,” Kriegel explains, “but December 2 was International Abolition of Slavery Day. Not many know this either: the institution of slavery — abolished 150 years ago in most of the Western world — is still alive and well in many of the more shadowy parts of the world.”

Abortion is back as front-page news and is once again in the forefront of the nation’s concern. A poignant and chilling perspective on the issue of abortion has been provided by an article published in the November 29, 2005 edition of the Los Angeles Times. In “Offering Abortion, Rebirth,” reporter Stephanie Simon takes readers into the life and logic of one of the nation’s most notorious abortion providers.

President George W. Bush announced the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. This is a nomination of historic significance and a nominee of true stature. Judge Alito brings a lifetime of legal scholarship, judicial experience. and public record to this moment in history.

Over the past half century, the U. S. Supreme Court has accomplished a feat America’s founders would surely have found to be inconceivable–they have created a perverse cloud of confusion over the question of religious liberty and the place of religious language and symbols in the public square.

The withdrawal of Harriet Miers as a nominee to the United States Supreme Court brings an end to one of the most awkward and confusing chapters in the history of the high court. Furthermore, it avoids a nasty confrontation and the possibility of embarrassing hearings before the Senate’s Committee on the Judiciary. The nation is breathing a sigh of relief.