Bureaucratic bullying

When a federal agency gets slapped down by activist government disciples such as Elena Kagen, Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsberg, you can bet it wandered pretty far afield.

And so it was last week with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which suffered an 8-0 defeat at the U.S. Supreme Court in its effort to avoid forking over millions of dollars in attorney fees to a company that had the gumption to stand up to bureaucratic bullying.

The 9-year-old dispute involves an EEOC complaint that an Iowa trucking company tolerated sexual harassment and fostered a hostile work environment for about 270 female employees. But the agency’s case fell apart in court after it was determined the EEOC had, among other transgressions, failed to properly investigate the allegations.

The company was awarded $4.7 million in legal fees, but an appeals court threw out the monetary award. On Thursday, however, the high court unanimously held that the company was eligible to recover its costs under federal law.

Of particular note in this case, a federal panel during the appeals process characterized the agency’s strategy as “sue first, ask questions later.” This is no accident. The EEOC’s modus operandi includes intimidating private-sector interests into settlements, regardless of an allegation’s merits.

And many companies, especially smaller businesses, take the pragmatic road, opting to pay a ransom rather than to take on expensive, drawn-out litigation and the risk of a significant judgment.

But it appears the EEOC picked the wrong patsy when it went after CRST Van Expedited Inc.

In 2014, the office of Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, released a report which found that the EEOC routinely abused its power with few consequences.

“By law, the agency is supposed to conciliate disputes first and sue as a last resort,” the Wall Street Journal noted, “but in many cases the agency’s lawyers don’t bother with the former.”

Perhaps having to cough up attorney fees to the Iowa trucking company will lead EEOC agents to more prudently exercise their authority. On the other hand, it’s only taxpayer money. This is an agency that deserves additional congressional scrutiny.

I would like to thank the Review-Journal for teaching me what is important in the news. Silly me, until now I thought it was things such as the presidential races, combating terrorism, climate change, the economy, America’s gun violence problems and so forth.

Apparently, however, what’s most important is the daily activities of our newest college basketball coach (“Rebels coach tireless in recruiting,” May 15 Review-Journal). I have lost track of how many times this has been the subject of the ReviewJournal’s front page.

Enough already.

Ilene Chapman is the third letter writer in the past couple of months campaigning for traffic intersection cameras (“On camera,” Wednesday Review-Journal). Is there some kind of movement going on here?

Cameras were tried before these people got here. A private company owned the concession and was fudging the speeds up for more revenue. It didn’t last long.

We don’t need cameras. Just let the cops do their jobs.

If you’ve become weary watching those on the major TV news stations blab on and on with inaccurate predictions and opinions about who will and will not be the next president, you are not alone. It is worth remembering that these programs do not exist to provide us with news — they exist as entertainment, no matter what anybody claims.

Contrary to what you might have heard on television, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party will survive no matter what happens between the candidates or how the party honchos feel about the candidates the people have chosen.

As it appears now, the ongoing battle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will continue and gear up as the election grows near. Bernie Sanders will have failed in his attempt to dupe young men and women into believing that socialism (Marxism) is a good thing and will disappear for good this time. He’s already too old, and in four years he will be even older.

No matter who the candidates are, it is predicted that this election year will bring out a record

Bravo again to columnist and professor Thomas Sowell for his outstanding thought process (“Desperate options,” Wednesday ReviewJournal). His recent column captured the thoughts of many informed Americans.

I, for one, wish Thomas Sowell would have been our first black president. He has shown countless times that he would have been the president of all Americans and carried out his obligations under our U.S. Constitution, understanding America is an idea, not a place.

With regard to all the silliness about “gender identification”: Statements such as, “I think I’m a girl even if I’m not,” or, “I think I’m a girl in a boy’s body,” are ridiculous — except in the case of the rare, medically diagnosed hermaphrodite.

No person can “decide” his or her sex. That decision was made at the instant of one’s existence when an ovum was met by either an X or a Y chromosome. Case closed.