Court’s Legitimacy

Re your special report, “Supreme Court Ruling: Right or Wrong?” Dec. 21:

I strongly disagree with the opinion of John C. Yoo (“Scholars Assess the Quality of the Court’s Work”), who states, “The costs to the court and the legal system were small and the benefit to the nation was high. The presidency is more important to the country than the Supreme Court’s legitimacy.”

There is little that President-elect George W. Bush can do at this point to convince me that he was elected rather than appointed. And with every new Supreme Court decision I will now wonder what role politics has played. The short-term gain achieved by ending a “divisive crisis” is small consolation for those of us who have lost a significant amount of faith in our democratic process.

LAUREN PALMER

Los Angeles

* I think Question 3, “In its rulings, did the Florida Supreme Court rewrite the state’s laws?” may be the most important from the standpoint of informing the public, because I suspect that many people wrongly believe that supreme or appellate courts are allowed to rewrite the law. This could account for a significant part of the difference of opinion on what has happened, though not all of the difference, of course.

WILLIAM F. MAGALETTA

La Puente

* The yes and no observations were fascinating, but none of the professors said what most scientists would observe. A system where the participants are selected for their loyalty will decide core issues based on party interest and produce proclamations of artful sophistry.

DAVID DIETRICH

Temecula

* I voted for Al Gore. I was really for Ralph Nader but I chickened out a day before the election. I will not be protesting Bush’s inauguration because, despite my misgivings about the Florida vote, there is actually no way to know who actually won Florida. The U.S. Supreme Court determined the winner. I disagreed with its decision, but there is rule of law in this nation and I will abide by it.

We have had bad presidents before. We will survive this one. There is always a chance Bush will turn out to be a decent president. But with people protesting the legitimacy of his election, he will not have a chance to succeed and this will hurt the country.

LINDA LOUISE ROBINETT

Ridgecrest