but since they involve colleagues of mine in the legal academy,I've been noticing them, and they are important.  Marty Lederman and Neal Katyal, both on the Georgetown faculty, are not (alas) radicals or revolutionaries, but on some of the key issues of the last eight years–unchecked executive power, unreviewable detention of American citizens, the use of torture–Professors Lederman and Katyal have been on the right side of the issues, and their appointments to important legal positions in the Obama Administration (in the Office of Legal Counsel and the Solicitor General's office) are the most concrete sign yet that the drift towards authoritarianism during the Bush/Cheney Administration is about to be decisively reversed.  While I'm pleasantly amused, to be sure, that Obama mentioned "nonbelievers" in his inaugural address–I know that, deep down, Obama, as an old Nietzsche man, can't believe any of that religious nonsense–it's far more important (especially given some of his disgraceful Cabinet appointments) that Obama has now chosen top legal officials who actually believe in the rule of law, human dignity, and individual rights.  No wonder the reactionary Chief Justice Roberts choked when delivering the oath of office!