I was struck recently by a page-one story in the Wall Street Journal about the latest arrest in the Department of Justice’s ongoing investigation of alleged insider trading at SAC Capital, a prominent hedge fund. So far six people have pleaded guilty or been convicted, and four have agreed to “cooperate.” It is the meaning of “cooperation” that is at the heart of my opinion piece.
On December 3, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in favor of Al Caronia, a pharmaceutical salesman who had been convicted of violating the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act by pitching the off-label uses of a narcolepsy drug to doctors at conferences throughout the country. Declaring that the Department of Justice’s overly broad interpretation of the law violated Caronia’s free speech rights, the Court vindicated a practice that has become commonplace among physicians.
On July 30, I wrote a piece on my “Injustice Department” blog on Forbes.com discussing the narrow-mindedness of the Gibson Guitar Company CEO’s claim in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that the United States Justice Department is waging a war against capitalism. It is a war, I suggested, against many sectors of civil society.
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