Everywhere among the English-speaking race criminal justice was rude and punishments were barbarous but the tendency was to do away with special privileges and legal exemptions.

Once the attacks occur as we learned on Sept. 11 it is too late. It makes little sense to deprive ourselves of an important and legal means to detect and prevent terrorist attacks while we are still in the middle of a fight to the death with al Qaeda.

While Taliban fighters had an initial claim to protection under the conventions they lost POW status by failing to obey the standards of conduct for legal combatants: wearing uniforms a responsible command structure and obeying the laws of war.

The effort to blur the lines between Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib reflects a deep misunderstanding about the different legal regimes that apply to Iraq and the war against al Qaeda.

Human-rights advocates for example claim that the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners is of a piece with President Bush's 2002 decision to deny al Qaeda and Taliban fighters the legal status of prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.

Consular cards were not designed to be identification and no treaty recognizes them as such. Legal travelers visitors and long-term residents carried passports visas or green cards for that purpose.

Instead California is one of only 10 states that provides in-state college and university tuition to illegal immigrants. That's grossly unfair to a legal high school student who moves out of California for a year then returns to attend college.

I do have two data identities. I have my name Bruce Sterling which is my public name under which I write novels. I also have my other name which is my legal name under which I own property and vote.

A national legal organization is giving very serious thought to using The Betrayal of America as a legal basis for asking the House Judiciary Committee to institute impeachment proceedings against these five justices.

The Florida Supreme Court wanted all the legal votes to be counted. The United States Supreme Court on the other hand did not want all the votes to be counted.