Online Only > Categories > Alumni Writers

As Supreme Court Takes Up Gun Ban, Greenhouse Is Watching

March 19, 2008

Did the framers of the Bill of Rights intend the “right to bear arms” to apply only for the purpose of forming a militia, or more widely, for purposes such as self-defense? Is the possibility that American citizens will need to rise up against a tyrannical government so remote that the right to form a militia has become obsolete?

These are the questions the Supreme Court is weighing as it takes up a Second Amendment case for the first time in 70 years. These questions are also captivating the nation, and the reporter covering the case for the New York Times is a Radcliffe alumna. Linda Greenhouse ’68 has covered the Supreme Court for the Times for nearly 30 years, but recently announced that she is taking a buyout and retiring.

Read her story about the Second Amendment case in today’s Times here; read a New York Observer interview with Greenhouse, including her remembrances of covering the Bush v. Gore decision in 2000, here.

Read a review of her book, Becoming Justice Blackmun, from this magazine’s archives here and a snippet (“Hello Darkness”) from her speech as the 2006 Radcliffe Institute Medalist here.