The Yale Law Journal

David Cole

Essay

The Priority of Morality: The Emergency Constitution's Blind Spot

David Cole

113 Yale L.J. 1753 (2004)

INTRODUCTION

In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced a campaign of aggressive preventive detention. Invoking Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General announced that just as Kennedy would arrest a mobster for "spitting on the…