Implementation of Prop. 209 Put on Hold

Once again, California’s voters got slapped in the face (“U.S. Judge Blocks Enforcement of Prop. 209 by State,” Nov. 28). When will our voices really get heard? I remember learning in my history classes that we were a country where the people, through their right to vote, made decisions that governed how our country was run. I guess those times are over.

California’s voters overwhelmingly approved Prop. 209, only to see its opponents slam it down through the courts. A couple of years ago, we overwhelmingly approved Prop. 187 only to see that get slammed in the courts.

I would suggest that before any proposition is allowed to go to ballot, the legal issues are resolved first. That way, regardless of the voting outcome, the proposition is either accepted or put to rest on the basis of the voters’ decision.

CARL SARRAZOLLA

Escondido

* Gov. Pete Wilson grossly misinterprets the law when he says that “the absurd consequences of [a temporary restraining order on Prop. 209] is that California can constitutionally only prohibit discrimination against some races but cannot constitutionally prohibit discrimination against all races.”

One may have different opinions on the definition and implementation of affirmative action, but state and federal laws still bar discrimination against all persons based on whatever race, color, gender, religion or national origin he or she is. White Protestant males are as fully protected against bias as any other group.

The governor does a disservice and only fans the flames of racial divisiveness and gender prejudice when he issues such public statements.

RALPH D. H. FERTIG

Administrative Judge

U.S. Equal Employment

Opportunity Commission

Los Angeles

* Assemblyman Bernie Richter (R-Chico) says that Judge Thelton E. Henderson’s decision to block Prop. 209 is proof that affirmative action benefits people who are not qualified. His statement is proof that even qualified minorities (in this case, a black judge) have a long way to go before they are viewed as competent and capable of holding positions of high regard.

Richter cannot formulate a coherent argument against Judge Henderson’s legal order, so he must debase this man as a liberal, leftist and undeserving minority who is not worthy of his position.

NANCY LUNA

Claremont

* Strange as it may seem to those who opposed Prop. 209, many of us who voted for the measure welcome the federal court’s ruling. We now have an opportunity to examine the various affirmative action programs on an individual basis and to determine which of those are structured fairly.

I. KURT WEBER

Pacific Palisades

* With every judicial usurpation of popular sovereignty, the nation’s democratic tradition is weakened. The expansion of the judicial forbidden zone of areas over which judges have absolute authority, and over which mere citizens and democratic processes dare not tread, is breathtaking. Without even the pretense of a constitutional mandate, judges dictate that we may not regulate abortion, that we must extend the privileges of citizenship to illegal aliens and, most recently, that we may not ban racial and gender preferences.

MICHAEL FRIEDLAND

Tustin