Commentator Steven M. Klepper argues that when judges decry political correctness they reinforce a perception that they're biased ("Judges should stay out of the PC debate," June 23).
In that he is correct. My question is: Doesn't the justices' consistent pattern of voting along what are seen as liberal or conservative lines also show bias?
By putting Justice Clarence Thomas' photo alongside the commentary, your editor seemed to indicate that Justice Thomas is the only one who should be perceived as biased.
Yet it seems to me that the entire court could be considered biased as defined by Mr. Klepper, especially in controversial decisions such as the recent rulings on immigration and abortion.
The justices are regularly referred to as either liberal — Justices Elena Kagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor — or conservative — Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Thomas.
Justice Anthony Kennedy is called the "swing vote." The 4-4 tie vote on immigration was bemoaned because the nominee President Barack Obama put up has not yet had a hearing in the Senate. The reason is that the political big wigs in Washington believe they already know how an Obama nominee would vote: The immigration decision would have been "won" by the president 5-to-4, had there been nine justices.
Mr. Klepper says that Donald Trump would present an "existential threat to America's independent judiciary" if elected. The threat appears totally unwarranted given that the Supreme Court has been an extension of the beliefs of the president who nominates its members for decades. Bias exists — on both sides.
David C. Hill, Baltimore