Jul 7, 2022 3 min read

Everyone should read David Ball’s op-ed published in the July 3 edition of the Observer-Reporter. He is celebrating three rulings made by the Supreme Court. His words make clear opinions we should all be aware of and think about carefully.

The first decision he praised was the weakening of a state’s ability to direct funds for public education. Mr. Ball said that “separation of church and state” was a “non-existent constitutional claim.” In fact, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment was authored by James Madison. All states had similar rules by 1833 and in 1940 the Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment insured no state could establish a state religion.

The second was the court’s invalidation of a 100-year-old New York law restricting concealed carry of a firearms to those who could show a reason. Most Americans agree that reasonable gun restrictions should be enacted, not removed.

The third was the decision to strike down Roe v. Wade. It has been established that most Americans disagree with this decision. Despite strong public opinion many states have restricted abortion even in cases of rape and when women’s lives are endangered.

I would add that this Supreme Court has recently acted to weaken the EPA’s ability to enforce environmental controls at a time when most people agree climate change is a real threat.

While some people may agree with Mr. Ball, they are the minority. He attempts to bolster his comments by making claims as ridiculous as “Liberals would love nothing better than to disarm the populous” and he states that people disagreeing with him could lead to “after birth murder.” These claims may fire up the extreme right, but they are absurd and totally false.

Sen. Mitch McConnell helped create this Supreme Court majority that rules for the minority. He refused to seat Merrick Garland eight months before the end of the Obama administration, then rushed Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation at the very end of Donald Trump’s.

The political right has made an art of gaining control of our government at all levels despite being the minority. With the help of well-resourced, right- leaning media, gerrymandering, false claims of voter fraud and voter suppression a minority is doing all it can to rule the majority. It won’t be easy, but we can reverse this trend. We just need to do two things. We need to think for ourselves, and we need to vote while we still can.

Donald Fitch

Amity