Thank you for calling attention to the issue of constitutional rights in the editorial, "The threat from our fear," April 23. With the Boston bombing still fresh, it can be hard to face the reality of abridgment of rights. Yet it is also essential in order to preserve our liberty to address these issues, which the editorial did with grace and intelligence.
However, I also must respectfully disagree with you. In the case of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, no rights were violated. At the time of his arrest, he was a suspect in not only the bombing, which qualifies him as a terrorist, but also the murder of an MIT police officer.
As a clear and immediate threat to citizens, for the security of the country, officials needed to extract what information they could from Tsarnaev. According to the report, his Miranda rights were read, so due process of law was followed.
All this is not to say that the issue should be ignored. We citizens must be conscience of our rights. In times of extreme heartache, it is too simple to strip the rights from those responsible, yet we must remain true to the Constitution, or else our rights will be forfeited. Thank you for raising attention to this under-observed issue.
Sydney Paluch
Watervliet