The strange, twisting legal saga of Ted Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber, continues to unwind. The Appeals Court for the Ninth Circuit recently ruled that Kaczynski's papers should be sold and the money paid to his victims in part to settle the $15 million in restitution he owes them. The government had pointed out that the papers and memorabilia would be worthless if it wasn't for Kaczynski's crimes, and Kaczynski shouldn't be allowed to profit from them. Kaczynski wanted the papers to go to the Labadie Collection at the University of Michigan, where his other papers are housed.
The ruling will do little to preserve the documentation. As it notes, "the property would be quite valuable to scholars, archivists, and, unsavory as that prospect might be, collectors." Perhaps the Labadie Collection will be able to muster the funds necessary to purchase the collection at the market price set by memorabilia collectors, but it is more likely that the collection will be scattered to the winds. The First Amendment claims raised in the amicus brief filed by the ACLU of Northern California and the Society of American Archivists were not included in the final decision.
This is a very tough case. Kaczynski's victims obviously deserve compensation - but must it be at the cost of the historical record? Perhaps the district court, which now must oversee the sale, will figure out a way to balance both interests.
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