Angus Cameron died last week.

A half-century ago he was forced to resign as top editor of Little, Brown, the company that published J.D. Salinger, Evelyn Waugh and Lillian Hellman, because he was a "leftist" in the reign of terror brought to us in part by Wisconsin's own Joe McCarthy.

According to the New York Times obituary, he not only thought leftist thoughts, he had the audacity to state them out loud, and when his bosses told him to stop his outside activity, he did the honorable thing - unheard of these days - and resigned.

I was reminded of Hellman's book "Scoundrel Time," where she placed a shiv between the ribs of those who testified against their friends in order to remain free of harassment from the House Un-American Activities Committee and, of course, to proclaim their loyalty to all who were listening. "Patriotism" was, indeed, "the last refuge of a scoundrel."

Those who remember the dreadful days of HUAC in the late 1950s and early '60s will recall ruined careers, professors fired for expressing views in the classroom, and some sent to prison for contempt of Congress. It was a time when people were afraid of their own government.

We thought those days were gone forever. Student protests throughout the land and an awakening of the American people with help from a Boston lawyer who took on McCarthy led to the abolition of HUAC. America reaffirmed its belief in the First Amendment and moved on to more important concerns such as the war on poverty and the civil rights movement. Bull Connor was a greater threat to our freedom than the mythical communists under every bed.

But the HUAC boys are back. No, they don't talk openly about Americans who hold subversive beliefs - such as keeping the Ten Commandments out of the courthouse and prayer out of school, or pushing for a more equal distribution of income in our polarized society - but they use a code word: "terrorist."

They tell us these "terrorists," like the "commies" of the '50s, lurk in every town, city and village in America. They tell us these "terrorists" must be watched and their e-mails captured - not to invade our privacy but to protect us.

The wife of our vice president urges students to report professors who are expressing leftist views, while former admiral and felon John Poindexter wants to collect our e-mails, bank transactions, phone and library records and medical information.

Whoa, Nelly! Who would keep these records and make sure that they are not misused? The guy who was convicted for lying to Congress, "felonious" John Poindexter.

The misnomer of our time is the "Justice" Department headed by super-Christian John Ashcroft. He has as much regard for constitutional rights as Charlton Heston has for homicide victims.

Sixth Amendment right to counsel? "We will decide who needs a lawyer," says J.A.

Should we tell family and lawyers where a suspect is being held? "Perhaps," says J.A.

Should intelligence agencies be separated from law enforcement? "No," says J.A.

The question we must ask is, "Who is protecting us from J.A.?" What will we have left if, when they are finished, the files of every lawyer suing the utilities or defending an American under suspicion are firmly in felonious John's computer bank? Will we be afraid to send e-mails to our friends? Will we hesitate to sign petitions, attend rallies, write letters to the editor?

What happens when the "new" HUAC returns to the Congress? Instead of loopy old Martin Dies, we will have media-conscious Trent Lott or Tom DeLay working with Roger Ailes at Fox to convince the American people that our university classrooms and our government should be swept clean of subversive ideas and lefties (oops!) "terrorists" - in the name of homeland security.

In the 1960s the Supreme Court often split 5-4 on HUAC cases, but they deliberated. Sometimes the good guys won, sometimes not.

Today we have judges and justices selected, trained, funded and supported by a little-known outfit called the Federalist Society, made up of ideologues who want to repeal the antitrust laws to help business thrive, want to reverse Roe and Brown, believe the 14th Amendment prohibits affirmative action to right the wrongs of centuries, and would have no trouble upholding the homeland security bill.

Adam Cohen wrote in the New York Times this scary analysis: The Federalists are "setting the nation's legal policy and selecting its judges. They are using their informal network to place conservative true believers in influential positions throughout the federal government."

In a different time we might chuckle at this group, but when you have the executive branch of government repealing by fiat the First, Fourth and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution while Congress looks on in silence and relies on the Federalists for judicial vetting, this is no time for laughter.

Before you despair and move to Canada, I have some good news. Law students and faculty members in over 50 schools have formed the American Constitution Society as an antidote to the Federalists. Not a left-wing alternative, but a group that believes lawyers with open minds should fill our judicial positions. People who would decide on a case-by-case basis, not using rigid ideology. Tom Fairchild, not Anton Scalia.

Here at the University of Wisconsin, law students gathered Friday to promote ACS and to speak of the dangers of ideologues filling federal and state court vacancies and of the importance of helping fair-minded individuals run for open positions in Wisconsin.

Almost simultaneously, nearly 100 lawyers from around the state came together a week ago to launch a progressive group of lawyers committed to social justice, public financing of judicial races and helping good people run for circuit courts and the state Supreme Court.

A diverse and unbiased judiciary is essential for democracy to survive. As Angus Cameron passes from the scene, law students and lawyers alarmed about the ideological domination of our courts are beginning to stir.

There is reason to celebrate.

Ed Garvey is a Madison lawyer who was the Democratic candidate for governor of Wisconsin in 1998.

Copyright 2002 The Capital Times

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