To the editor: In 1857, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court docket Roger B. Taney, in his majority opinion returning Dred Scott to slavery, acknowledged that Black individuals “had no rights which the white man was certain to respect.”
On Monday, our personal Supreme Court docket beneath Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. held that U.S. immigration brokers can snatch individuals off the road based mostly on how they give the impression of being, what language they’re talking, the place they’re working or the place they occur to be (“Supreme Court docket upholds ‘roving patrols’ for immigration stops in Los Angeles,” Sept. 8).
It’s onerous to not conclude that issues haven’t modified a lot since 1857.
Gordon J. Louttit, Manhattan Seashore
..
To the editor: On Sept. 8, Supreme Court docket Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh concurred that the “obvious ethnicity” of the particular person stopped “generally is a ‘related issue’ ” in figuring out whether or not the cease violates the Structure.
On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court docket held that Harvard’s and the College of North Carolina’s affirmative motion applications had been unconstitutional, stressing that “eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it,” and “the Equal Safety Clause applies ‘with out regard to any variations of race, of shade, or of nationality’ — it’s ‘common in [its] utility.’ ” Two years in the past, eliminating race and ethnic discrimination meant eliminating all of it, however all of the sudden it doesn’t anymore.
Ira Spiro, Los Angeles
..
To the editor: Now that the Supreme Court docket has legitimized racial profiling, we’d see a real-life model of the 2004 satirical movie “A Day With no Mexican.” The plot is straightforward: Abruptly, all of the Mexicans in California disappear and there aren’t any nannies, gardeners, development employees, day laborers, line cooks, busboys, automotive wash workers or farmworkers.
On this new actuality, individuals will now disappear by going underground to keep away from being profiled. Deputy Chief of Workers Stephen Miller, watch out what you would like for — it will wreak havoc on the lives and pocketbooks of all of us.
Jon Merritt, Los Angeles
..
To the editor: White justice: A Michigan courtroom has dominated “faux electors” allegedly concerned in efforts to overturn the 2020 election had been attempting to hunt redress after President Trump’s loss and trying to carry out their civic duties.
Brown justice: Kavanaugh’s repeated characterizations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers’ remedy of individuals of shade, who’re regularly chosen with no particularity past the colour of their pores and skin and the place they had been working and tackled by a number of masked males in fight gear and carrying assault weapons, as non-burdensome “transient” inquiries into their standing.
Each are unhappy, consequential and incorrect.
Marcia Scully, Whittier
..
To the editor: This Supreme Court docket ruling purports to require ICE brokers to have “an affordable suspicion, based mostly on particular articulable reality” earlier than they will detain somebody for questioning. This language will not be new. It was adopted many years in the past to make sure that police might not cease somebody merely for being dark-skinned and sporting a hoodie. Though such elements may make some regulation enforcement brokers suspicious, the courtroom stated these suspicions couldn’t be deemed “affordable” with out extra.
Kavanaugh’s opinion, declaring that ICE brokers can relaxation their affordable suspicions on an individual talking Spanish or working at a automotive wash, turns that time-honored 4th Modification precedent and safety on its head. In a 2017 opinion rejecting racist skilled testimony, Justice Roberts famously wrote, “Some toxins could be lethal in small doses.” He must be ashamed he and his courtroom’s majority refuse to cease the Trump administration from poisoning us and our neighbors.
Amy Donnella, Los Angeles
..
To the editor: That is clearly a traditionally un-American choice.
Los Angeles and California should reply by informing the Olympic Committee that we’ve got no selection however to say no holding the 2028 Olympics right here as a result of we refuse to topic world athletes and guests to the clearly racist insurance policies of our authorities. They shouldn’t be subjected to the identical threats as these of us who dwell right here. Our sincerest apologies to the world.
Richard Inexperienced, San Clemente
