Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy Volume 5 Article 2 Issue 4 Symposium on Civil Disobedience 1-1-2012 Law, Justice and Disobedience Howard Zinn Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndjlepp Recommended Citation Howard Zinn, Law, Justice and Disobedience, 5 Notre Dame J.L. Ethics & Pub. Pol'y 899 (1991). Available at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndjlepp/vol5/iss4/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy at NDLScholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy by an authorized administrator of NDLScholarship. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. ARTICLES LAW, JUSTICE AND DISOBEDIENCE HOWARD ZINN* In the year 1978, I was teaching a class called "Law and Justice in America," and on the first day of class I handed out the course outlines. At the end of the hour one of the students came up to the desk. He was a little older than the others. He said: "I notice in your course outline you will be discussing the case of U.S. vs. O'Brien. When we come to that I would like to say something about it." I was a bit surprised, but glad that a student would take such initiative. I said, "Sure. What's your name?" He said: "O'Brien. David O'Brien." It was, indeed, his case. It began the morning of March 31, 1966. American troops were pouring into Vietnam, and U.S.