Supreme Court overtaken by politics with little regard for the law

In 2000, the Supreme Court decided to stop the vote recounting ordered by the Florida Supreme Court. It forever tainted George W. Bush’s presidency because so many felt the recount was the only way to prove the ballots cast were indeed counted properly, and “hanging chads” could be put to rest once and for all. It may have changed the outcome of the election, or it may have proved that George W. Bush was indeed the rightful winner. We, the people, will never know. I for one, who believed wholeheartedly in the non-political functioning of the Supreme Court, no longer held that belief. Over time in the last two decades, I thought maybe it was just an aberrant mistake on the part of the court.

The news that the draft votes have been cast that will end Roe v. Wade brought all those feelings screaming back (“Report: Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, draft opinion shows,” May 3). This time, there is no mistaking the absolute turn in the Supreme Court to a court run by political judges who care very little for the law as long as their political party gets its wants and desires approved.

This means that in the future, should other judges from even more divisive political ideologies become a majority on the court, our democratic republic will cease to exist. We may be at that tipping point now. We will be no better than other authoritarian governments. The will of the people will no longer matter, just the will of the political party in power.

I never envisioned this state of affairs in our nation. I thought our Constitution was strong enough to withstand these kinds of attacks. We did make it through the McCarthy Era with an improved sense of self.

I don’t know that we will be as fortunate this time.

— Abby Beytin, Reisterstown