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The Real Problem

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has died. Death is always a sad occasion, but hers is particularly sad. It’s not that her life was somehow more important than most, but her passing has highlighted a serious and very likely existential problem in our government.

Immediately after her passing, the political discussion turned from the Presidential election to who should name her replacement and when.

The problem this spotlights is the politicization of the federal courts. This has been obvious for some time and some people have actually come to not only accept it, but embrace it.

This is a huge problem for our country. The reason justices are appointed and not elected is so that they will not be political, but that has been thrown out the window. I am tempted to cite the history of how this happened, but that would only hamper any effort to resolve the problem.

Ginsberg herself is a perfect example of the problem. She was an activist before she was appointed to the court and was very proud of the fact that she was an activist on the court. She believed that court seat belonged to her and she exercised the rights of ownership over it; even to making a last request that it be filled by the next President, as if the seat was hers to bequeath.

That seat belongs to the people and is for the purpose of enforcing law and the Constitution. Activism should not be practiced by those with the power to force their views on others.

The only way to fix this is for the people to demand that the courts stick to the job of dispensing justice under the law and stop legislating. That job belongs to our elected representatives in the legislature. We must also demand that activist judges be removed from office. It will only take a few before the rest get the idea.

I have no illusions that any of this will happen. I expect that we will continue down this road to destruction at an ever-increasing speed. But I have never wanted to be wrong as much as I do on this.

PAUL RINKER

Montoursville

Submitted via Virtual Newsroom

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