To the Editor:
Re “The Crippled Supreme Court” (editorial, May 17):
More damaging than the hobbling of the Supreme Court is the delegitimizing of presidents in election years. Hearing that the president is a “lame duck” with limited powers, might soldiers defy his orders? A president not trusted with the appointment pen surely isn’t trusted with the nuclear button.
Are treaties we signed in election years null and void, having been sealed without the people’s voice?
The Supreme Court can work without a ninth justice, but the president cannot without a clear mandate. Do we accept a hobbled presidency a quarter of the time?
ILYA SHLYAKHTER
Cambridge, Mass.
Note from KBJ: I don't care how this question is answered, but I insist that the answer apply to both Democrats and Republicans. Either both are hobbled or neither is hobbled. I hope the letter writer agrees, but I suspect that he or she cares more (or only) about the hobbling of a Democrat president.
