The April 5 editorial took issue with a federal judge's demands that the Justice Department explain the position of the Obama administration on the authority of judicial review of laws passed by Congress. This came after the president warned the Supreme Court about potentially messing with Obama care.
The judge's demands were said to be the equivalent of demanding that the president write something 100 times on a blackboard, like a child disciplined for breaking a rule.
We should consider that this is at least the second time this president has arrogantly attacked the Supreme Court. Remember two years ago he lectured down to the Supreme Court justices who courteously sat in his State of the Union address about how they had wrongly judged in a recent decision? His party added applause in an embarrassing show of discourtesy.
I find it appropriate for members of the judicial branch to take offense and demand a retraction. For such behavior the president probably ought to be forced to write 100 times on a blackboard something in the order of: "The federal government is composed of three branches and I only lead one of them."
These branches were designed to provide checks and balances against attempts to consolidate and abuse power. If we re-elect a president who wants only a set of yes men (and yes women) sitting in our courts, we risk losing that crucial balance. Don't we?
Randy Conrads
Kihei
