Letters to the Editor

Questions for SCOTUS hearing

Hearings on the confirmation of Judge Jackson to be a justice of the Supreme Court will begin soon.  I sent the following to all members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and hope she will be asked:

1. You have been nominated for justice, not for judge.  Most nominees have been asked if they will follow the law, and many senators have desired an affirmative answer.  But the Supreme Court has occasionally refused to follow the law and declared a law unconstitutional.  Are you willing to strike down a law as unconstitutional?  
2. Originalists interpret the Constitution as they believe the founders did.  Thomas Jefferson wrote: “Institutions must advance also and keep pace with the times.  We might as well require a man to wear still the same coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regime of their barbarous ancestors.”  Do you agree with originalism or with Jefferson?
3. Cases deciding a law as unconstitutional or not are rarely decided unanimously, so it is far from obvious what “unconstitutional” means.  What does it mean to you?
4. Rule of law is extremely important and adhering to the law is of value even when a law conflicts with your view of justice and the Constitution.  Will you sometimes give deference to the law and precedent even if you believe a law unjust?  If so, how would you decide that the injustice is so important that the law should be overridden?  Do you think that sometimes a law should not be followed even if the case fits the law as written and the law itself is not unconstitutional?    
5. The Second Amendment says in its entirety: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Banning all private ownership of firearms is clearly unconstitutional, but we do infringe the right to bear arms.  I think we can agree that it would be a bad idea to allow Space X to put a nuclear weapon on one of its rockets, or allow a disgruntled airline passenger to have a basement full of anti-aircraft missiles. Where should the line on protected weapons be drawn? Single shot muzzle loaders? Weapons used by the National Guard? Automatic weapons? High capacity magazines? Fighter jets?
6. Do the words of the preamble of the Constitution have any force of law, or are they just aspirations and a statement of purpose?
7. The Constitution says: “No appropriation of money to that use [i.e. the army] shall be for a longer term than two years.” Are military contracts for projects lasting more than two years unconstitutional?
8. The 14th amendment says that “the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, … shall not be questioned.”  Is a statutory federal debt limit unconstitutional?

James L. Eliason | Storm Lake

Voices need to be heard

I am grateful for the courage of area residents, including Alan Lopez, Angie Snyder and Pastor James Roland, for their voices of clarity regarding immigration issues and the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival) program. Their voices — and the stories and editorials shared in recent issues of The Storm Lake Times, need to be heard by our elected officials. 

Rev. David Halaas | Sioux City

Greed will be the death of us

A couple years ago I protested at the capitol in Des Moines. If we had done one- tenth of what happened in D.C., I’m sure I’d be in prison and it wouldn’t take months for convictions. 

History won’t be kind to the radical right wing base of the Republican Party, the gullible base who will believe anything one person says (without proof) that leads to a riotous attempt to overthrow the government. With truth you only have to tell it once, but with a lie, you have to keep telling lies to cover up. According to Factcheck.org, the instigator of the riot lied 30,573 times in four years — an average of 21 a day. The first year started six lies a day but by the fourth, it was 39 a day. So you see about lies covering lies. Nine people died as a result of that riot. 

After being attacked, one police officer died of multiple strokes the next day and another four officers committed suicide. That shows how traumatic it was. The base calls it a tour and my question to them is, how many people usually die on tours? The last time an orator incited crowds of violence 50 to 56 million died in WWII, the most costly ever. Does book banning sound familiar? The Civil War cost 750K lives and with the same ratio today would be seven million. 

Maybe we should all be put on suicide watch because what we should be doing is saving the planet. Since we’re overpopulated Mother Nature seems determined to thin us out. Mother Nature can usually heal herself but we won’t let her. People think more about money than the environment. Money is not the root of all evil but the love of money is; greed will be the death of us.

Dave Haynes | Duncombe

Horror of another war

As we watch the horror of yet another war overseas (started under a Democrat administration by a foreign tyrant) we are reminded of the brilliance of our Founding Fathers by including the Second Amendment in our U.S. Constitution.

Remember, boys and girls, that to give up a little freedom for a little security produces neither of those situations.

Here is another brilliant thought by our Founding Fathers: the Second Amendment protects the First Amendment.

God bless America through these difficult times!

Jeff Myers | Newell