Hypocrisy ‘a vice that cannot be forgiven’

The Sun’s Oct. 6 editorial, “Supreme Court’s new term restarts credibility concerns,” leaves the reader with the sense that so-called arch-conservative justices such as Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett (“self awareness is not her strong suit”) are heartless political ideologues, while liberal justices like Elena Kagan (“who rightfully sees the Texas law as patently unconstitutional”) are principled public servants.

The Sun board conveniently left out the perspective of Stephen Breyer, one of the most liberal justices on the highest court and a target of the left-wing group Demand Justice, which paid for a billboard that stated “Breyer Retire.” In Justice Breyer’s recently released book, “The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics,” he asserts that “judges are not junior league politicians.” In prior interviews, he has averred that even when the justices disagree, “all nine of us think we’re following the same Constitution that was there in 1790.”

Perhaps all members of The Sun board are constitutional lawyers and are qualified to assert which laws are unconstitutional. If so, they should understand that there are differences in jurisprudence, which is separate and distinct from political opinions or beliefs. It certainly appears that the Sun board only takes umbrage with Supreme Court decisions that conflict with their own political ideologies.

The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy.