Letters to the Editor | Jan. 2, 2025

Sen. John Fetterman recently said, “If you’re rooting against the president, you’re rooting against the nation.” How is that again? Rooting for Donald Trump to succeed with his agenda is rooting to silence the media and incarcerate those who disagree with him. Rooting for Trump is rooting for U.S. citizens who were born in this country to immigrant parents to be denied their birthright. Is Fetterman rooting for deregulation that will make our climate less stable and our workplaces less safe? Is he rooting for a cabinet full of sycophants with no experience or knowledge of the departments they will be overseeing? Is he rooting for more money to go to billionaires and less money and fewer services for everyone else? How is rooting for the president to succeed rooting for the success of our nation? Is Fetterman really rooting for an autocracy?

Carol Weisl, Philadelphia

A new report from a Senate committee discloses two more trips taken by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas paid for by a billionaire benefactor and never disclosed. The Supreme Court’s declining trust and favorability ratings portend a potential crisis. The court has no real enforcement mechanisms, other than the peoples’ and their leaders’ willingness to voluntarily follow the justices’ dictates. Hints of possible corruption in the dealings of a justice corrode and erode faith in the court and make it more likely that a president who disagreed with a court ruling could ignore it and not face much of a backlash. As Sen. Dick Durbin recently opined, “It’s clear that the justices are losing the trust of the American people at the hands of a gaggle of fawning billionaires.” One step to help at least partially restore the public’s faith and trust in the court is for Justice Thomas to resign — now.

Ken Derow, Swarthmore

President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 prisoners on federal death row. Biden stated this decision was a matter of conscience. Donald Trump said he would direct the U.S. Department of Justice to “vigorously pursue the death penalty” after Biden’s announcement. Throughout his three campaigns, Trump has touted himself as a so-called pro-life president. How can this be? How can so many pro-life constituents support such a statement from Trump? He does not speak of his conscience, but rather his tone is one of vengeance.

In response to the commutations, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called Biden’s action a “significant step in advancing the cause of human dignity and respect for human life from womb to tomb in our nation.” I hope that all religious leaders will speak on the value of human life from womb to tomb, and how that value can be seen as a tool to end the death penalty. No need to mention political names in any sermon, but rather speak to the values that can guide us to an all-encompassing right to life.

Mary C. Randles, Philadelphia

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