Telford Taylor was my Constitutional Law professor.

He taught Marbury v. Madison, which established the principle of Supreme Court review of the actions of the executive and legislative branches.

He also taught me what a lawyer could do.

He was the chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes trial.

He also defended people targeted in the McCarthy era.

Friday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

It reminded me of Telford Taylor and of the legislation I successfully introduced to provide compensation for people who were taken to concentration camps on the trains of the French National Railroad.

One of the Nuremburg principles is the duty not to follow a superior’s unlawful orders

I helped write such a provision into Maryland’s police reform law two years ago.  An officer should Intervene to prevent an excessive use of force.

I was reminded of that by the failure of any one to act in the horrific video of the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols.