States and civil rights

Tom Campbell (May 10) wrote that states should be responsible for legislating civil rights, not courts. He said that Congress might have a say as well. We are woefully ignorant of history. The civil rights struggle was won in courts precisely because states and Congress failed to act. We only just recently passed a federal anti-lynching law, that after centuries of mob murders of people of color, as well as abuse of women. States and Congress cannot even pass the ERA to give women equal rights. But we can use obscure religious doctrines to take rights away from women and further oppress them. Leave it to states to disenfranchise and impoverish people. For those SCOTUS originalists, James Madison wrote about the tyranny of the majority.

— Ion Puschila, Pomona

Housing for homeless needs realistic approach

Re “L.A. set to spend $3B on homeless” (May 12):

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions”, and perhaps the “devil’s (not) in the details” but in the results we see. Certainly, good intentions are about all we see as results of the billions spent on housing for the homeless in this state. Knowing the resistance so many homeless have to any rules attached to most housing options, perhaps a more practical, and realistic, approach might be to build campgrounds with restrooms, showers and common areas, with as few rules (other than maintaining a clean campsite) as possible, and easy access to as many community and financial resources as possible. Not as glamorous or lofty as other housing proposals, but perhaps better than exemplifying the definition of insanity we repeat now.

— Suzanne Potter Zmudosky, Moreno Valley

The Supreme Court’s decision on Roe v. Wade

I must commend the letter writer on May 11 for, if nothing else, his clarification of what conservatism is, and is not. The word “conservative,” by definition, means cautious, safe and respecting precedent. Brushing aside and the Roe v. Wade decision would absolutely not fit with this definition. What has been exposed by this leaked draft is the pursuit of an agenda by the court. As a “draft” majority opinion, that would imply the case had already been decided. If that be the case, what is the purpose in delaying the release of the decision, with the majority and minority opinions? And how does all that fit with the three newest members of the court, in sworn testimony while their appointments were under consideration and debate, characterizing Roe vs. Wade as “settled law”?

— Bill Seckler, Riverside

Victims of violent crimes

In response to L.A. County’s District Attorney George Gascón’s op-ed concerning the needs of crime victims (May 8). I must say that connecting any crime victim to the many services that exist is a wonderful thing. However, it is my belief that the best way to help crime victims is to have less of them. That is, to catch and prosecute criminals by upholding the laws enacted by our representatives and to live by the oath that prosecutors make to do that very thing. This group called the Prosecutors Alliance is populated by social justice prosecutors who take a dim view of certain laws that they personally don’t agree with and therefore do not enforce. These prosecutors with their own “woke” social agendas sends out the message that crime pays and hence, crime goes up like it has since Mr. Gascón was the D.A. in San Francisco and now in L.A.

Ukraine

— Steve Fleming, Chino Hills

I believe we are currently supporting the efforts in an appropriate manner, but we are definitely sharing too much information about what we are doing with the media through press releases, leaks and back channels.

We need to allow room for Putin to exit this war and save face by not provoking the “Bear” (so to speak), but also support a future for Ukraine, independent of Russia. Visits by politicians, who are just looking for headlines, and FLOTUS (Ms. Biden) visiting are not helping matters in the least. In my opinion, this only will harden Putin’s resolve and it’s playing into the rhetoric that this is a proxy war with the West.

— Richard Endsley, Highland