Roe v. Wade opinion reveals court’s true nature

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is upset about the leak of a draft opinion before a final version can be released. He sees the leak as an affront to the traditions that have long governed the deliberations of the Supreme Court and he fears that it will further erode public confidence in the court.

Yet, when then-senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell invented a phony principle to prevent President Barack Obama from exercising his constitutional duty to nominate a candidate for a vacancy on the court, Roberts expressed no concern. He also did not express concern when hypocrite Mcconnell abandoned his so-called principle to rush through President Donald Trump’s third nomination to the court.

In Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion, we see how he and Trump’s trio of nominees misinformed the Senate and the electorate about their views on Roe v. Wade, calling it “settled law” when, in fact, they believed that it had been wrongly decided and was ripe for overturning.

Several weeks ago, Trump’s third nominee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, was quoted in this newspaper saying that she wanted to prove to the American people that the Supreme

Court is not “a bunch of partisan hacks.” If that is what she and others in the right-wing cabal that now dominates the court want, they ought to start behaving like something other than a bunch of partisan hacks.

The glimpse of what goes on in camera afforded by Alito’s draft opinion has a foul odor. It can only further undermine public confidence in an institution that once stood high in the esteem of the American people. I wish to thank Mcconnell, Trump and all their Republican cronies who have worked tirelessly to create a Supreme Court utterly out of touch with public opinion and with its own best traditions.

Michael Halloran

Troy