Welfare Decision

On May 17 the U.S. Supreme Court overturned California’s welfare law regarding payments to those who have just moved here. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote, “Citizens of the United States . . . have the right to choose to be citizens of the state wherein they reside. The states, however, do not have any right to select their citizens.”

Stevens is wrong. California never barred the citizens of other states from moving here. Many of the recent arrivals seeking California are not U.S. citizens. This sophistical notion of equal protection is completely outside the intent of the framers of the 14th Amendment.

The framers of the 14th Amendment intended very narrow and well-understood legal meanings in its construction. They identified “equal protection”--a new concept--with the right to enter into contracts, to own property and to have access to the courts to protect their contracts and property. California’s welfare law denied no U.S. citizen equal protection vis-a-vis contracts, property or the courts.

The Supreme Court replaced consent of the governed--that is, to whom and for what purposes we wish to surrender our property (wages)--with judicial decree.

BRUCE CRAWFORD

Fountain Valley