- Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Michael McKenna writes in his column, “A new, better Supreme Court makes its debut in New York pandemic case” (Web, Nov. 28), that the court’s vote should have been 9-0, but was 5-4. I agree with Mr. McKenna’s assertion that the vote should have been 9-0.

With the addition of constitutional conservative Amy Coney Barrett, the court was presumably ideologically aligned 6-3 instead of 5-4, as in the July vote of the U.S. Supreme Court in Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley v. Sisolak. The close 5-4 vote reflects the abandonment by Chief Justice John Roberts of any pretense of being a constitutional textualist. He joined the court’s other three liberals (four before Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg passed away) as he has done in several other decisions. Roberts is a turncoat.

JOHN K. LAMBERT



Silver Spring, Md.

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