Absent from most discussion concerning the upcoming Presidential election is the likelihood of two vacancies on the Supreme Court during the next four years. This is truly “the elephant in the room” when we consider what those appointments could mean to the citizens of this country.

The current Supreme Court consists of four members who are considered judicial fundamentalists and five members of varying degrees of moderation in terms of judicial outlook.

For the sake of discussion here, judicial fundamentalism (formerly called strict constructionism) is the belief that the Constitution should be read literally, allowing no room for interpretation, changing times, or intent of legislators.

All too often, the discussion of “activist judges” sends people into fits of ranting and raving. We have been hearing, since the Brown decision of the Warren Court, about how those crazy judges have handcuffed police, have unfairly put industry under control of environmental laws, to mention nothing about the entire abortion issue. If only we could remove activist judges we could forever end “legislating from the bench.”

But those issues are not the only thing in the sights of the judicial fundamentalists. The entire discussion goes WAY beyond certain specific policy disagreements.

Peter Lewin

Fayetteville, Ga.