Government must counteract courtpacking
Regarding “1st fix for U. S. high court: term limits” ( Oct. 29): The article states a common misconception that “the Constitution provides life terms” for the Supreme Court of the United States and federal judges. That’s an interpretation of the words “hold their offices during good behavior,” but it’s been widely recognized that this could also be interpreted to mean that justices can continue their public service on lower courts ( which has happened for some retiring Supreme Court justices). The Supreme Court needs to be reformed with term limits, and it should be passed by a Democratic House and Senate, and signed by potential president Joe Biden immediately — to counteract the rightwing courtpacking by the Republicans. It is essential that whatever the new term limit is, that it be applied retroactively to all justices. This would then give the next president the opportunity to appoint perhaps two or three new justices, and restore balance to the court.
And then, going forward, justices would regularly reach term limits, and new appointments would be fairly distributed. Otherwise, we’ll be living with a farright, unrepresentative court makeup for many years to come.
Matt Stone, Lafayette
Benefits of forests
“Rules to protect whales may cut into crab season” ( Front Page, Oct. 28) makes one think of relative values, and what we can do without. Whales have certainly earned a good rest from the use and abuse of our forefathers, and Dungeness crabs will be glad to miss our Thanksgiving dinners. But leaving the sea behind, California’s inland forests continue to absorb tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, which we especially do not want in our atmosphere, and produce oxygen that all living things need. They also collect, filter and store that water for our state’s primary supply. So the very destructive timber harvest called clearcutting must be prohibited, along with other methods that ruin the complex forest ecology. Contact Gov. Gavin Newsom and the boards of forestry, air and natural resources to preserve those benefits we cannot do without.
Bob Moncrieff, Monte Sereno
Virus’ longterm effects
I imagine those who resist taking safety precautions to stop the spread of the COVID19 virus think something like: Some people will die, but most do not. That is true, unless, of course, it is you doing the dying. When at war, we focus on the death toll and forget the catastrophically wounded, the blinded, the amputated limbs and paralyzed. I see a parallel with our focus on the COVID19 death toll while ignoring the thousands who suffer longterm effects of having had COVID19 ( longhaulers). The symptoms include an inability to breathe, blood clots in lungs, damage to the heart, severe headaches, depression, anxiety and job loss, etc.
I am a longhauler, and after scores of medical tests, the physicians’ final prognosis was that they are sorry, but they just don’t know enough yet about the longterm effects of this illness; you might get better over time, or you might not. So wear your mask, socially distance and be considerate. I’d rather not have to save you or those you infect a chair in the longhauler support group.
Paul Marra, San Rafael
Bring back monarchy
It would be great having, instead of politicians and elections, a benevolent king or queen who held all the wealth and distributed it equally to all the citizens; made sure that everyone received what they needed; and made sure health and other needs were taken care of immediately, without arguing in a Congress that needed months to argue what to do.
Gene Van Dyke, Carmel Valley