A federal appeals court has strongly denounced, as it should, the roadblocks set up by the District of Columbia around the crime-plagued Trinidad neighborhood last summer. While the roadblocks were in effect, officers would stop motorists driving into the neighborhood, demand to see ID, and turn back those who could not produce what, in the officers’ opinion, constituted a legitimate reason for being in the area. Although governments can impose cordons for specific reasons, they can’t do so merely to reduce the possibility of crime in general and in the abstract—nor should they be able to.

Americans, who recently celebrated the July 4 anniversary of their independence from autocracy, might want to take note of the proliferation of czars in Washington these days. Tabulations vary: John McCain said in May that Barack Obama had named his 20th czar. Foreign Policy counted 18 a couple of months ago; TalkingPointsMemo found 23, and Citizens Against Government Waste compiled a list of 31.

After eight long years, the Revolutionary War finally drew to a close in 1783. The Continental Congress had successfully managed that valiant struggle for independence. However, with the arrival of that freedom came new concerns. Knowing that a framework to govern was needed, Congress hastily drew up the Articles of Confederation to combine the Colonies into a weak confederation of sovereign states. Adopted by the Second Continental Congress in November 1777, the Articles were ratified in March 1781.

After eight long years, the Revolutionary War finally drew to a close in 1783. The Continental Congress had successfully managed that valiant struggle for independence. However, with the arrival of that freedom came new concerns. Knowing that a framework to govern was needed, Congress hastily drew up the Articles of Confederation to combine the Colonies into a weak confederation of sovereign states. Adopted by the Second Continental Congress in November 1777, the Articles were ratified in March 1781.

Medieval philosophers are said to have debated how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. The modern equivalent of the question asks when authorities should be permitted to perform a particular search. The Supreme Court has been considering the issue in two cases: one concerning police searches of vehicles and the other concerning the strip search of a 13-year-old girl by school officials.

If you make a clerical mistake on your taxes and pay less than you owe, do you get to keep the difference? Even if if was an honest mistake? Of course not. But the Supreme Court recently ruled that when government makes a similar mistake, it should. The case wasn’t about money, but something even more precious: freedom. It concerned what is known as the exclusionary rule, which forbids using improperly obtained evidence against a criminal defendant. It derives from the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures—the amendment that keeps the authorities from conducting random house-to-house sweeps in the hopes of finding something.