Clip of Annie Wersching as Ellen Tanner in Boston Legal. There are no actual speaking scenes from Annie’s character in this particular clip, but you can see her reactions.
Juliette Monroe: How are they supposed to seriously function in this world as adults if they’ve been brought up as white supremacists?
Judge Mike Matsumura: Many seem to do just fine.
Juliette Monroe: Your honor, is that an environment that you would subject your children to? And this is a physical danger as well. White supremacists are more likely to become involved in violence. They’re hate groups, Mr. Shore can deride me for pulling the national security card, but do not tell me that the Timothy McVeighs of this world and the Christian Identity Organization and the like, which support violence and are anti- government, you can’t tell me that they don’t pose a threat to this country. For God’s sake, these two little girls are being taught to adhere to a whites-only, immigrant-bashing, Jew-hating ideology. You heard them, and their performances are being used to recruit other people to join in with the prejudice. How can this court not step in and rescue them?
Alan Shore: Benjamin Franklin is often attributed with the quote, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither.” And he certainly knew what he was talking about. He ate lots of red meat and invented the swim fin. When our current president, who by the way has invented nothing, signed the Patriot Act into law in 2001, not a single member of congress could be found who had read the bill all the way through. And yet, they couldn’t wait to hand over our rights. “Al Queda’s coming, where’s my pen?” Anything to feel safe. Like a parent who dangles car keys to distract a child, our government whips out national security to grab our attention whenever they deem it necessary. And that’s what opposing council is doing here, but this case is not about national security. It’s about a family. Granted, a family that is so filled with spite and ignorance and shockingly untutored ideas that it beggars the imagination, but still a family. And as long as Lauren and Katey are well fed and well cared for, a family the law cannot and should not touch. Now I think we would all agree that we’d prefer these children to be raised in a different way. Certainly Mrs. Tanner’s sister thinks so. But she knows legally that is not possible, so she and her lawyer are wheeling out our latest favorite rights-squashing mechanism, national security, and who can blame them? It’s all the rage. If you want to look at people’s bank records, tap their phones, read their e-mails, go ahead, do it. Just say it’s a matter of national security. And now we’re claiming the Tanner family is a threat. If that is the case, if there is any actual evidence linking them to a crime, by all means, be my guest, please, have at ‘em, arrest them, but if there is no cause to arrest them, then leave this family alone.