The confirmation hearing for Tommy Johnson to lead the state Department of Public Safety revealed a deep and complex rift between guards and the department over chronic staff shortages, absences and overtime.
Much has been written about Justice Kennedy's sentence "[a]tthe heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept ofexistence." Some suggest that it is a window on the Supreme Court'sjurisprudence. Others dismiss it as just another bit of overblownjudicial rhetoric, a throw-away line in the midst of a longopinion.