Northwest Herald / NWHerald.com • Monday, February 22, 2016
22
OPINIONS
Kate Weber Publisher
Dan McCaleb Editorial Director
Jason Schaumburg Editor
ANOTHER VIEW
How Roberts can honor Scalia legacy The sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia has given Chief Justice John Roberts a unique opportunity to affirm the Supreme Court’s rightful place in American politics: keeping the law above politics. He should seize it, even though – and especially because – the high court has a tenuous hold on that place. Within hours of Scalia’s death, Republican leaders in the Senate announced they would not consider confirming his replacement until after the 2016 election. Never before has the Senate attempted to put off an appointment for so long, nor has the court’s balance of power been thrust so forcefully into the middle of a presidential campaign. Perhaps the Republicans’ gambit will have the effect of galvanizing voters in both parties. It also could further damage the integrity of an institution that has become as polarized as the electoral system it is shielded from. A presidential campaign that doubles as an election to replace Scalia would position the court as an extension of the parties more directly than ever before. That may well be unavoidable, but Roberts can mitigate some of the damage to the court by taking a modest step: Reminding the Senate an election year does not absolve it from its constitutional duties. It would not be the first time Roberts decried politics intruding on the appointment process. “A persistent problem has developed in the process of filling judicial vacancies,” Roberts wrote in 2010. “Each political party has found it easy to turn on a dime from decrying to defending the blocking of judicial nominations, depending on their changing political fortunes. This has created acute difficulties for some judicial districts.” Now that same problem has created difficulties for the Supreme Court itself. In his own 2005 confirmation hearing, Roberts likened his role as a judge to an umpire who calls balls and strikes. Umpires also can (contrary to popular belief) call a delay of game violation, and occasionally even break up on-field conferences aimed at buying warm-up time for relief pitchers. Roberts has no authority to force the Senate into action, but he is free to tell them to get on with it – to basically trot out to the pitcher’s mound and tell the players to stop dawdling and do what the people expect them to do. They don’t have to listen to him, but they certainly should respect his commitment to fair play. Bloomberg View
THE FIRST
AMENDMENT
IT’S YOUR WRITE Bates will be advocate
To the Editor: I have known Kay Bates for more than 10 years. I have found her to be a person of integrity with an unusual caring for small business development. I know she will bring these strong character traits to the McHenry County Board. Kay knows the importance of small business growth to the local economy. Under her leadership, the McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce has become an incubator of small business. Kay is running because after her many years at the McHenry Area Chamber, Kay knows businesses need representation before government by someone who understands and is in a position to do something about their needs. Businesses have been hit hard on all levels by taxing bodies and need an advocate. Let Kay be that
advocate on the McHenry County Board. Vote for Kay Bates for McHenry County Board District 4. Frank A. Hosticka
McHenry
Pay closer attention
To the Editor: Most of us quickly can recant our favorite Super Bowl ad, while the vast majority of us remain oblivious to the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya, artfully chronicled in “13 Hours.” An increasingly dangerous world graphically shaped by terrorist attacks in Paris, Cologne, Jakarta and Istanbul has descended upon our nation at San Bernardino, Fort Hood, Chattanooga, Boston and, most recently, Philadelphia. Career politicians respond with candlelight vigils and “Coexist” bumper stickers as they quietly restrict citizens’ Second Amendment right to self-defense, demonize/
smother religious freedom in exchange for vacuous rhetoric preaching tolerance geared to silence debate in the public square. Historians dutifully note Socrates ultimately faced execution for asking too many questions. It seems transparency in ancient Greece made the ruling elites quite nervous, much like today. Tea party activists, distributing copies of our founding documents in public forums, find themselves labeled “extreme” by the same elected officials exposed as phonies by the hallowed words in those cherished parchments. This year affords every American a unique vision of their government made abundantly transparent by the plethora of news sources across a broad range of technology-driven media. Perhaps, at long last, we’ll be paying close attention this time. William G. Parrot
McHenry
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.