THE CULTURE WARS ARE A ROUT:

Americans tend to cherish liberal values, at least until we face frightening and morally outrageous threats, at which point they often give way. Liberals can be acutely aware of this dynamic when the threat involves, say, terrorism, but only sporadically so when the threat involves something like rape. Judith Shulevitz has a powerful story describing the kangaroo court methods of justice used to prosecute sexual assault on college campuses. For instance, "at Harvard, the Title IX enforcement office acts as cop, prosecutor, judge, and jury -- and also hears the appeals." Harvard Law School professor Janet Halley tells Shulevitz that these procedures are "fundamentally not due process."

Obviously, universities aren't trampling due process because they hate due process. They're doing it because they hate campus rape, of which there is (unlike terrorism, it should be said) an awful lot. For various reasons, including the long stalemate in Washington, the movement to confront campus rape has shot up the list of liberal priorities. One can detect in this movement an impatience with balancing risk against liberty that, in other contexts, would be readily recognizable as a tone of creeping illiberalism.

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