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Letters to the Editor

U.S. Supreme Court often rules against Constitution

Flowers and candles are laid outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
Flowers and candles are laid outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. ZACH GIBSON New York Times

Mr. David Gurowsky's critique in the March 16 Herald of an earlier letter written by me on March 6 takes exception with my view that Supreme Court justices should be constructionists.

There exists a divide between those who believe the Constitution should be interpreted as it is written and those who see the Constitution as a living document subject to ongoing interpretation.

When justices consider challenges to the Constitution, they must be competent to review existing text as it is written, not through a political or philosophical spectrum.

This, in my opinion, is where the court has sometimes run off the track when they seek to dilute, change or negate a constitutional entity. It has been called "seeing shadows" in the text to justify that which is not there.

Mr. Gurowsky asks what I thought of the Supreme Court's decision to treat Mr. Scott as property even though he moved from the south to the north. Mr. Gurowsky also asks what I thought of Plessy v. Ferguson where the Supreme Court upheld the separate but equal clause which perpetuated segregation for about 54 years. Finally, the Supreme Court rectified that travesty (Brown V. Board of Education.)

My answer is that in both cases, the Supreme Court acted in a cowardly, prejudicial and politically correct manner. At that time there were provisions in the Constitution that would have supported and justified entirely different outcomes.

Their decisions were as heinous as the abortion decision in the early '70s and what I consider the expanded fanatical and fascist application of church and state separation.

In short, the deprivation of "constitutional" rights "as written," decisions that helped to corrupt our culture and the loathsome effort to eviscerate Christendom have disconnected this country's moral compass.

Even the president, in his actions, tramples the intent of the Constitution.

Patrick Neylan

Bradenton

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "U.S. Supreme Court often rules against Constitution ."

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