In response to Kathleen Bollinger’s letter “Supreme Court in peril”: I have to agree it is in peril. It is in peril because the Supreme Court lost its credibility due to the court packing done by Sen. Mitch McConnell starting in 2016.
After Justice Antonin Scalia died on Feb. 13, 2016, President Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland to fill the seat. But McConnell refused to allow Garland any formal consideration in the Senate, rejecting the Senate’s constitutional mandate, famously bragging that he was never prouder than when he told President Obama, “You will not fill this seat!”
McConnell has now rushed through many ideologues to lifetime judicial appointments in the lower courts, even ones that were rated as not qualified by the American Bar Association. All courts are to remain politically neutral. If that is indeed true, we will see many decisions that will disappoint conservatives and liberals alike. That is the way it is suppose to work.
If Ms. Bollinger is correct and all rulings result in conservative cause victories, SCOTUS has no credibility and we as a nation are also in peril.
Renalda Arndt
South Huntingdon