Court Nominee Sounds Like a Founding Father

Re “A Bad Fit for a Key Court,” editorial, Nov. 5: You view President Bush’s nominee to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Judge Janice Rogers Brown, as holding a “startling view for someone who would be charged with reviewing government actions.” All the nominee said was: “Where government advances -- and it advances relentlessly -- freedom is imperiled, community impoverished, religion marginalized and civilization itself jeopardized.”

So here’s a test. Who said: “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground”? Or: “Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master”? Try Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, respectively.

Startling? The nominee sounds more like one of the founders to me.

Donald Hagler

San Marino

*

Re “Nominee Is Critical of Big Government,” Nov. 6: Prior to this article, I was in favor of Brown’s confirmation, but as a result of reading the quoted excerpts from her speeches, I no longer support her nomination to the Court of Appeals. She should be president.

Larry Parkins

Garden Grove