Federalist society agenda motivates Supreme Court

I read with interest the op-ed on the leaked op-ed (“Women Will Lose Control of Their Bodies. Who’s Next?”, May 4). Judge Samuel Alito’s opinion on abortion clearly explains the reasoning they will apply: there is no need to follow precedent unless the decision is “deeply rooted in the history and tradition of the nation – and implicit in the concept of order and freedom”.

This means they can choose precedents that interfere with their right-wing Federalist Society agenda and reject them with Roe v. Wade. Since they are textualists (“Make the Constitution as it had in 1791, unless we decide otherwise”), an obvious target is Gideon v. Wainwright. This case established the right to a public defender in cases of indigence. The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to counsel, but not to court-appointed counsel. The far right has never been happy with Gideon. Returning poor, ignorant, criminal defendants to the 18th century practice of facing today’s complicated criminal cases without a lawyer is clearly on the Federalist Society’s agenda. After all, Gideon was decided by a bunch of liberals in 1963, so he can’t be “deeply rooted in the nation’s history and tradition.” Why? Because we did without it for 172 years.

But there’s one decision they won’t reverse. Nowhere in the Constitution is there any mention of the power of the Supreme Court to declare laws unconstitutional. This was discovered by Chief Justice John Marshall in 1803 in a case called Marbury v. Madison. Take out Marbury and you take out the Federalist agenda. Worse, you leave the decision of what is constitutional to Congress.

Oh Eaton Jr. Sanford

OH Eaton Jr. is a retired circuit judge who served on the Seminole County Court for 24 years.

During their confirmation hearings, all of the current Supreme Court justices accepted Roe v. Wade as an important precedent and had no intention of overturning it. However, now they will. They lied to Congress to be confirmed. Are they now guilty of perjury?

Allan Bottner Orlando

Sixty years ago I joined The Grand Old Party. One of the pillars of the party was fiscal responsibility. It’s no surprise to me that five of the seven Supreme Court votes for Roe vs. Wade in 1973 were by GOP chairman appointees. An unwanted child in a society costs money. Do we really want to rebuild orphanages? Do we really want to put thousands of children on orphan trains looking for someone to take them like we did in the late 1800s and early 1900s? Some of these judges may have seen this happen in their youth. Have we really thought about this or is this another example of what we’ve learned from history is that we haven’t learned anything from history?

Charles Lang Orlando

Explain to me again why we also need a one-cent sales tax increase to pay for roads and transportation (“Hard-to-Swallow Orange County Sales Tax Vote,” May 4 )? Can’t they use at least part of the tourist tax for the improvement of roads and buses? Maybe reduce the sales tax increase to half a cent?

Greg Fogleman winter park

I paid off my children’s student loans. If Biden wants to stick someone with the exceptional tab, I suggest sticking him to predatory lenders (“Understanding the Generational Divide on Student Loans,” May 5).

William Shallcross Springs of Altamonte