Supreme Court Crusade: Fairness for the Powerful

An op-ed on "The Supreme Court's Crusade: Fairness for the Powerful" in this morning's (10-27-06) NYTimes by Adam Cohen reminded me of an old Colombian saying: "La ley es un perro rabioso que no muerde sino a los de ruana." Translated: "The law is a mad dog that bites only the poor."

Cohen contrasts a series of U.S. Supreme Court cases setting aside punitive damage awards against cigarette companies, insurance companies and other greedy corporate malefactors with it's upholding of a minimum 50-year sentence of Leandro Andrade, a father of three, under California's tough "three strikes' sentencing law, for shoplifting $153.53 worth of video tapes from Kmart. Perhaps "three strikes" should be applied to corporations and their officers.

[Adam Cohen's op-ed is linked below.]