U.S. Supreme Court ethics and persisting COVID problems among Herald letters | Opinion

Are justices above the law?

Speaking with CNN’s Zachary Wolf, legal expert Walter Schaub, a former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics took issue with the arrogance of the Supreme Court in their response to possible law-breaking by stating that they are not accountable to anyone but themselves.

As Shaub put it, the current conservative-majority court is displaying “a culture of exceptionalism, where the Supreme Court’s justices feel that they’re above the law, above question, and above everything else in the government.”

With Wolf citing the ethical clouds hovering over Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni, Neil Gorsuch, and now questions being raised about Chief Justice Roberts’ wife Jane earning $10.3 million in commissions for her work with law firms, one of which argued a case before her husband, Shaub claimed the court’s defensive letter rings hollow.

The idea that if you are the law, whatever you do is fine, and there’s no accountability stinks to high heaven. They can get away with that because they’re not elected, have lifetime appointments and can only be removed by impeachment. This will not happen until one party controls 60% of the Senate, and believes in their impeachment, a case of absolute power corrupting absolutely.

Bill Petrie, Richland

A thank you for book bag’s return

I would like to thank the good Samaritan(s) who found my bike bag outside the Richland Post Office, then tried to track me down, and finally left it at the Benton Franklin Transit lost and found at the Kennewick transit office. The gentleman at the office called me, and I picked up the bag the next day. Unfortunately, they did not leave any way to contact them.

This episode reaffirms my notion that the vast majority of people are generous, kind and honest.

Stu Freeman, Richland

Still learning COVID lessons

Songwriter Harry Nillson’s comment, “Everything is its opposite” seems to ring true too often. We use elevated terms for those who have taken more than their fair share and kick people who are already down. We decry bullying, and yet there’s no end of it in films and TV.

COVID taught us a lot. We learned that screen time was no substitute for talking with real people or getting to interact with the teacher and others in a classroom. (There were no mass shootings by sociopaths in schools during the pandemic, by the way, though there was lots of domestic violence in families that didn’t find a way to handle “sheltering in.”)

We found who our true friends were and are and that even relatives should sometimes be avoided because their conspiracy theories are as toxic as the virus. COVID has seemed to bring out a cultural mental illness, not just a physical one. The way some people drive now seems to indicate a greater impatience than there was before the pandemic. We need not only to fix the streets, we need to repair our tolerance levels. Lots of work (and maybe play).

Michael Kiefel, Walla Walla

Letters Policy

The Tri-City Herald welcomes letters up to 200 words and the best way to submit them is through our website. The Herald reserves the right to edit letters for clarity and length, and letter writers are limited to one letter published every 30 days. We will not run letters from candidates promoting themselves. Letters about election issues must be received no later than seven days from the deadline for ballots to be returned. For the August primary, that deadline is July 25.