What Is a Gene And How Does it Apply to the Law? The Supreme Court Still Doesn't Know
Genes complicate the courts because they have something of a dual nature. For one, genes are strands of information—they are bits of data like plots on a blueprint or the swirls on a fingerprint. But genes are also life, capable of replicating, mutating, and holding vast amounts of private information. Would it be contradictory for the Supreme Court to rule in the Monsanto case in favor of the seed company, and in doing so bolster the idea that genes and their progeny are intellectual property; but at the same time, rule in the King case in favor of Maryland, against the idea that DNA is a piece of personal property protected by the Fourth Amendment?
How a Martyr Makes a Law
The death of Internet activist Aaron Swartz is propelling a change to a computer law written before there was an Internet.
It was a crowd of contrasts in the after-hours Cannon caucus room. Liberal Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D- Mass., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., sat not too far from Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California. There were also more colorful figures, including a man whose back-length dreadlocks adorned with bits of colored string and beads clacked around as he approached his seat. And yes, there were a lot of twentysomethings with beards.
“The Good Stream” — Acrylic on canvas
