In 1990 I served the federal court here in South Florida as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in the obscenity trial that determined Miami rap group 2 Live Crew’s album As Nasty As They Wanna Be was obscene and thus not protected by the First Amendment. The verdict -- the first in world history that a sound recording was obscene -- was handed down by Jose A. Gonzalez, Jr., a liberal judge appointed by President Carter and who was hailed for his civil rights record by the ACLU and the rap group’s lawyer when the case was assigned to...