[SuziQ]

Thompson has played the brusque, liberal and pragmatic DA in the various permutations of the program: "SVU," "Criminal Intent" and "Trial by Jury."

I haven't seen many of the Law and Order shows in which he's appeared, but of the ones I've seen, his character hasn't seemed particularly liberal. In fact, in one of them, he said he was pro-life.

[LowCountryJoe]

Liberal in the classical sense...his character seems to take the side of individual liberty (thus rejecting paternalism) in every show where a hot-button issue is introduced. With how often that is for that particular show -- and how left-leaning the writers biases are -- the viewpoints of Thompson's character is quite refreshing.