It’s up to us to reform
the Supreme Court
Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that we have to have nine Supreme Court justices. Nor would it require a Constitutional amendment to add more seats. In fact, Congress has expanded the Supreme Court five times throughout American history.
Congress should use its constitutional authority to re-balance the Supreme Court, which has been taken over by a super-majority that holds extreme views outside of the mainstream of legal thought and out of step with most Americans. That’s why Congress must pass the Judiciary Act, which would add four seats to the Supreme Court and help stem the right-wing super-majority’s attacks on our fundamental freedoms, including the right to access abortion care.
There’s nothing stopping Congress from adding justices — except for the political will to do it, of course. In fact, recent polling showed that the majority of the American voters they represent support expanding the court. That’s why I’m urging Congress to pass to support the Judiciary Act of 2021 and add four seats to the Supreme Court. It is time for the majority to rule over the minority.
Alan Clark
Kailua-Kona
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Heartless comparison
Dave Chrisman in his letter “Ironic” published June 19 equates children killed senselessly by guns used by “gun nuts” depicted in a political cartoon to aborted fetuses. This is appallingly heartless. The children at Uvalde were actual sentient, thinking, communicating, loving, loved, dreaming, achieving, playing, learning, laughing, crying humans. The comparison of these and many other children killed by gun violence to aborted fetuses is not even remotely close.
Diane Aoki
Kealakekua
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Allegations don’t hold water
Mr. Mark Van Pernis’s letter advocating for a new hospital in North Kona contained inaccurate statements regarding why the new Kona courthouse was relocated. The original site that was across from West Hawaii Civic Center would’ve made perfect sense, but there was environmental issues which precluded construction.
The USFWS was slated to designate this property as a critical habitat. They had already found the endangered Uhiuhi tree on this property also. Mr. Van Pernis alleges Queen Liliuokalani Trust used their political muscle to push the Judiciary to relocate the new courthouse. QLT wanted improve commercial viability of their properties, but there is a problem with this argument. QLT had developed Kona Commons and Makalapua Center in that same area.
As a result, Mr. Van Pernis’s allegations don’t hold water. The site selection change for the new Kona Courthouse was done purely because of environmental issues with the originally selected site.
Aaron Stene
Kailua-Kona
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What’s next Clarence Thomas?
Thanks to Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump we now have a Supreme Court that allows the protesters surrounding abortion clinics to carry concealed weapons. What’s next?
Burt Masters
Kailua-Kona
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