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I think the founders erred when they created the Supreme Court, which is essentially a cabal of kings who decide as a group the most consequential and transformative issues of American life.
They forgot to impose any checks and balances on the court. They left Americans at the mercy of a small unelected group of lawyers who answer to no one, who serve for life and who apparently don’t even operate under a modest code of ethics — our only real chance at some semblance of accountability.
I have followed the court most of my life, forever nervous when the biggest and most important decisions are handed down at the end of June each year.
This year, there are perhaps the greatest number of critical cases to be decided in recent memory.
Just a few: Can social media platforms edit their own content, not unlike newspapers? Will judges rather than experts decide when federal rules — covering every aspect of our lives — are appropriate and warranted? Will Donald Trump escape all accountability for trying to steal the 2020 presidential election from 81.2 million Americans? And how will the court decide what kind of care, if any, women can receive for emergency abortion and pregnancy management?
I have no faith in justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. But I am hopeful the remaining justices will consider our great progress as a nation and our always-changing kaleidoscope society when deciding what to impose on, or eliminate from, our lives and rights as free Americans.
Frances C. “Liz” Mockler
Newport