Letters: Newsletter counter
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Newsletter counter
I have been a member of the ABA for decades, and it appears to me that the organization has gone off the rails and continues to run further off the rails on almost a weekly basis.
It is difficult to imagine what more the ABA Journal Weekly Newsletter (July 5) could have done to promote a negative view of the U.S. Supreme Court:
• “Supreme Court’s Trump immunity ruling poses risk for democracy, scholars say.”
• “Chemerinsky: SCOTUS justices are ‘nine angry scorpions in a bottle.’”
• “Supreme Court issues ‘staggering’ ruling on deadline to challenge agency actions.”
• “SCOTUS curbs agency power in ruling that ends Chevron deference; dissent dubs opinion ‘Hubris Squared.’”
The preamble to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct states in paragraph 5: “A lawyer should demonstrate respect for the legal system and for those who serve it, including judges, other lawyers and public officials.” The four headlines—particularly when taken together—do not demonstrate respect for the legal system, the Supreme Court and the justices.
Mike Chaney
Charleston, West Virginia
Shop talk
Either your bias is showing, or the research for “Plenty of Opinions,” (August-September, page 30) did not go back far enough.
Some of us remember when U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice was the “go-to” judge for liberals from 1968 to 1990.
Judge Justice had a single district office in which many lawsuits wound up, including the one where he took over the Texas prison system for decades: Ruiz v. Estelle (1977).
What is going on now has been going on for decades. Justice was a liberal appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Guess it depends on whose ox is being gored.
Thomas C. Fitzhugh III
Houston
Supreme Court concerns
The story on President Joe Biden’s proposal regarding the U.S. Supreme Court (“How term limits for Supreme Court justices—now backed by Biden—could work,” ABAJournal.com, July 29) may contain what Biden said—if he is even aware he has a position—but grossly undermines our Supreme Court, which is the intent of this administration and the leftists that control the American Bar Association.
The Supreme Court decision on Dobbs corrected a mistake, just like Plessy v. Ferguson was corrected later. It has nothing to do with extremism or being unethical. It is our duty as lawyers to respect the courts.
The only ethics issue in the article was directed at Justice Clarence Thomas and not Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who refused to recuse herself in a case in which she had a direct interest with the publisher of her book.
This is just so despicable. The ABA does not represent lawyers. It represents the Democrat party. It’s disgusting.
Ramona DeSalvo
Nashville, Tennessee
Mental health help
“A BigLaw suicide survivor’s prescription for the legal profession’s mental health crisis,” (ABAJournal.com, May 16) shows we need to be moving with intent on mental health. Particularly since COVID-19, more and more legal folks are gutting it out despite near-crippling depression and anxiety. Mental health is health!
Garrison Cox
Louisville, Kentucky
