Court already far to the right
Ruth Marcus is correct —the replacement of Justice John Paul Stevens is unlikely to mean a shift to the left. [“Stevens departure from high court doesn’t mean a shift to the left,” Opinion, April 10.] She leaves out the worrisome implications of this.
A consistent pattern of nominations by Republican presidents —young, radically right judges —has pushed the court far to the right. Stevens, a conservative appointed by President Nixon, now counts as a liberal.
The result is crazy decisions such as the recent reversal of long-standing opinion, which allow corporations’ unlimited campaign donations as “free speech.”
I say crazy advisedly; Corporations lack a conscience or what the religious call a soul and fail miserably to understand the social contract that humanists assert forms the basis of morality. Increasing the legal “personhood” rights of entities such as Comcast, Boeing and even The Seattle Times only increases their already substantial rights compared to people.
With so much power vested in amoral business entities, could voting rights be far behind?
— Randy Grein, Bellevue