Letter to the Editor / THE LAW OF THE LAND

By Roger C. Kostmayer

If you’ve wondered at the extent to which political parties try to appoint judges who share their ideology, or you are shocked by the hypocrisy of the religious right’s giving up their principles in return for favorable judges and legislation – you might be interested in the Supreme Court’s pending cases.  The court’s findings are due between now and the end of June and the issues include: gay rights, abortion, gerrymandering, labor unions, voter suppression and the President’s Muslim ban. A few brief summaries follow.

The Colorado GAY RIGHTS case is about a Conservative Christian baker’s refusal to make a wedding cake for a same sex couple, which is a violation of the states’s anti discrimination law.

The baker claims that forcing him to do so would violate his religious liberty.  On the other hand, state law says businesses serving all the public must not discriminate based on sexual orientation, gender, religion, ethnicity, age and so forth.

POLITICAL GERRYMANDERING occurs when state lawmakers deliberately draw election districts along racial lines or to give their party political advantage.  Democrats do it in Maryland and Republicans do it in many states including Florida, Pa., and Wisconsin. VOTER SUPPRESSION, by purging polls of voters who don’t vote for two years, even when receiving notices, is another political case.  Civil rights attorneys charge that Ohio has wrongfully removed thousands of registered voters this way, clearly suppressing opposition votes.

The SC will decide if President Trump has the constitutional right to block all immigrants from most Muslim nations or, if doing so as a TRAVEL BAN is unconstitutional.

The correct rulings, according to both US coasts, would be:

  1. If you want to run a business that provides goods or services to the general public, you can’t discriminate based on sexual orientation.
  2. Our democracy needs the highest possible voting and participation rate from registered voters (instead of the 50 -60% high during presidential elections).  Neither gerrymandering nor any clear voter suppression, by any political party, should be tolerated.
  3. And no one is above the law.  No American President can discriminate against immigrants based on their religion.

Roger C. Kostmayer

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