Why distrust the Supreme Court? Clarence Thomas and Lindsey Graham are Exhibit A
Why we doubt
On Monday, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas put a temporary freeze on an order that would require Sen. Lindsey Graham to testify before a grand jury about his alleged attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.
Several of the conservative justices have said that we should not doubt or have concerns about the integrity of the Supreme Court. With rulings like this and other recent ones, that is hard to do. This ruling highlights the issues with this court.
Not only should something this important not have been ruled on unilaterally by Thomas, but he should not have voted on it at all. Because his wife was involved in the attempted insurrection to overturn the legitimate results of the election and could be facing criminal charges, if Thomas had any respect for the court and understanding of justice and integrity, he would have recused himself from this case and any others dealing with the coup attempt.
He did not, and for that reason and because of other recent court rulings, the public’s faith in the fairness and integrity of the Supreme Court is justifiably disappearing.
- Tom Kenney, Liberty
Not so prime
The quality of “Thursday Night Football” on Amazon Prime Video through my provider is absolutely terrible. It cuts in and out like satellite TV during a thunderstorm.
NFL games should be broadcast on regular cable networks, then also streamed as needed. Amazon Prime Video stinks.
- Larry Cooper, Kansas City
Just one side?
The author of an Oct. 21 letter to the editor complained about conservative candidates sending negative mailers about liberal candidates and how terrible that is. (7A)
Has this gentleman not looked at the same type of mailers coming from liberal candidates slamming conservatives, and the overwhelming number of liberal TV spots doing the same thing?
I recognize of course that The Star is a very liberal publication, but I would think that it would want to try to be fair with this type of letter.
- Terry Isenberg, Lenexa
Define ‘freedom’
An Oct. 21 letter writer states that U.S. Senate candidate and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt “supports freedom and liberty.” I guess she only believes in freedom and liberty for men, since Schmitt is totally against abortion rights.
- Diane Capps, Kansas City
Tearing down
I have been a registered Republican living in Kansas most of my adult life because I believed it was the way to elect the likely winners in the primary. Now I select the best of the worst in the primary and vote a straight Democratic ticket in the general election.
It breaks my heart that election deniers and power-hungry extremists want to control our country so they can tear down our democracy, take away a woman’s right to choose and make one-person-one-vote impossible.
Today’s Republicans do not want to build anything. They want to destroy — Social Security, Medicare, voting rights. Decency will disappear if they win a majority.
- Lori Klarfeld, Prairie Village
Power imbalance
Kansas voters, please be aware: There is a ballot initiative in the upcoming general election called Kansas Constitutional Amendment 1, the Legislative Veto or Suspension of Executive Agency Regulations Amendment. This would allow the Legislature to overrule any orders or decisions coming from the executive branch and administrative agencies.
This amendment would basically disable the balance of power among the branches of government, which is what our government is all about. It would allow the Legislature to strip all decisions from the governor and state agencies — revenue, health, transportation, labor and so on. Potentially, this would even allow the Legislature to ban all abortions — an issue that has already been decisively determined by the voters.
Amendment 1 is a disguised, insidious plan to change our form of government to a one-party governing body. It is another effort to chip away at our democracy and turn it into an autocracy. I hope you will vote no on this proposed amendment.
This is as important as the vote in August regarding a woman’s right to choose — perhaps even more important. That was a specific issue. This is a larger one, because it would have impacts in multiple areas.
- Larry Lehman, Leawood
