Sep 22, 2020 2 min read

In his Sept. 21 op-ed, Washington County Republican Party Vice Chairman Dave Ball complains about a “shamelessly partisan Pennsylvania Supreme Court,” which he considers to have issued rulings which will allow the Democrats to unlawfully and unethically deliver Pennsylvania to Joe Biden in the Nov. 3 election. The conclusion of his composition is that where he stands depends solely on whose ox is being gored.

I wonder if Mr. Ball expressed any concern when a “shamelessly partisan” United States Supreme Court ordered Florida vote-counting to end, serving to hand the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush, an eight-year reign which turned out to be a calamity for the country. Is Mr. Ball at all distressed or compelled to speak out when “shamelessly partisan” actions are taken to disenfranchise Democratic and minority voters throughout the country, such as imposing strict Voter ID requirements and closing polling places in minority areas?

Yes, judges often bring their own ideological slant to their rulings. They are not robots. We see it in a 5-2 Democratic Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and we see it in the U.S. Supreme Court, whose decisions often mirror conservative views as aligned with its conservative majority.

I would refer the one-sided Mr. Ball to a quote from his beloved Donald Trump from just this past weekend as he explained why he will immediately seek to replace the esteemed and admired late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a staunch conservative who will vote to overturn precedent, the Roe versus Wade decision, “We win an election and those are the consequences.”

Oren Spiegler

Peters Township