Here
and
Now

opinions

Supreme Court leak shakes trust in one more American pillar

10 Comments
By CALVIN WOODWARD and HANNAH FINGERHUT

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.


10 Comments
Login to comment

Americans are also distrustful of big business, unions, public schools and organized religion. Indeed, they hold abysmal views of the functioning of democracy itself.

All with very good reason.

"Officialdom" is not something deserving of respect in and of itself. Better the public and themselves regard them as "public servants" and act accordingly. This is what has been lost.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Fact is that there is a constitutional right of a baby to life. A constitutional right to abortion is a leftist pipe dream which does not exist.

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

Probably because, at least when it comes to the government, there isn't much to trust in the United States. You can only blatantly lie to your population so many times before they wise up. Apparently, you can lie a LOT before they reach that point though.

If anything, I would say the trust is way too high still. People still are likely to believe whatever US-media tells them, especially when it comes to foreign affairs. The American meritocracy seems to finally be failing. I look forward to the inevitable revolution, though it may not be in my lifetime as of yet.

Fact is that there is a constitutional right of a baby to life.

Where in the American Constitution is that explicitly outlined? I will admit I haven't read it for a while, but pretty sure that wasn't in there.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Democracy is supposed to be about the will of the majority being paramount, while the rights of the minority are protected as well. The framers of the Constitution, in their concern that slave holding states would not join the new nation, gave those states an outsized role in the government. What we see today in America is the remnant of that concern for slave states, in that the will of the minority is able to impose itself on the majority.

It is a basic failing of the American system that the will of the minority are able to impose themselves on the rights of the majority.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

If the US is a democracy then justices appointed by elected officials ought to be able to make legal decisions without aggressive protests in front of their homes.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

The polticization of the Supreme Court has been going on for decades, and is sad. However, the latest escapade is one of the worst breaches of confidentiality in recent memory. The person who stole this draft was no whistle-blower. There was no cover-up happening, no information being illegitimately witheld from the public. The Court was operating as it was designed to operate. The leaker needs to be named and shamed. Not criminally, but they do need to be disbarred and banished from any position of power or confidentiality.

And now the Justices are under siege in their own homes, their children being terrorized by mobs of political maniacs- an act forbidden by criminal law. And the Biden administration refused to even offer a soft condemnation of either act until put under severe pressure by the public.

As to the issue of abortion there are good people on both sides who can debate the matter. And it looks like they may have to if this draft becomes the will of the Court. Nothing has changed yet, so no need for the hysterics and melodrama that we are seeing on a daily basis. Everyone needs to calm down and let the judicial process do its thing.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

The fact is, the Democrats had about 50 years to do something to prevent this from happening. But I guess having something to 'fight for' gives them a reason to ask for people to vote for them. Republicans and Democrats are just as bad as each other.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

It is a basic failing of the American system that the will of the minority are able to impose themselves on the rights of the majority.

Well, no that is not entirely true, the makeup of the Supreme Court is NOW predominantly conservative and the issue of Roe v. Wade was a horrible ruling that basically took the rights away from the people, which is something that the founding fathers didn't want. The Supreme Court was supposed to actually never be in the way or an arbiter for social-political issues like this. This is and should have always been a state issue. The country is pretty much split close to the middle 49% support and 47% oppose and 32% undecided. The issue will always be a decisive one and neither side will be happy with the outcome of their ruling once it comes out, but that doesn't give the right for the mob to form and try and bully these Justices into changing their minds, let's be clear about this. This is not a peaceful protest, this is a show of intimidation and it will have the opposite effect on the ruling if anything, this outburst may only strengthen their resolve. The left drone on that trying to overturn an election is unconstitutional and against democracy, because the people have spoken, the Supreme Court is about to reverse a very wrong decision and will revert back to how the law should have been decided and that is by the people.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If the US is a democracy then justices appointed by elected officials ought to be able to make legal decisions without aggressive protests in front of their homes.

Yeah, right. If the rules were reversed and it was liberal justices and an army of conservatives would protest in front of their homes the media coverage would be very different, in fact, they might even call every available law enforcement official and would designate those people as radical right-wing terrorists and saying or thinking they wouldn't be just not dealing with reality. No sane person would want anyone protesting outside of their homes. it is wrong it is the very definition of fascism at its worst.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Moving contentious issues to state control may be beneficial for the US. The federal government hardly functions as disagreements prevent deals being done. Consider instead a nation of Republican states with Republican laws and Democrat states with Democrat laws. Republicans could live in states that banned abortion, banned gay marriage - gay relationships even, banned the teaching of evolution and allowed anyone to carry a gun. Democrat states could ban private gun ownership and retain the right to abortion. Happy Republicans in Republican states, happy Democrats in Democrat states. A population that voted with its feet and settled where it was happy with the laws that governed it. It might take the rancour out of US politics, which is turning into civil war level hatred. Foreign policy could remain under federal control. Americans may not see it as ideal, but it may be the least worse way forward, as without any centrist politics, the nation is dividing into two by default anyway.

Not having any faith in institutions may encourage Americans to be more self-sufficient. This will help as climate change worsens.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites