Readers Write: The judiciary, Walz’s re-election, political rhetoric, Brazil, U athletes

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Ka Vang in her column “How Wisconsin voters reclaimed abortion rights” (Strib Voices, July 5) praises democracy for swinging the Wisconsin Supreme Court to the left so that it could overturn a 1849 law outlawing abortion. Whether you agree with legalizing abortion or not, her rationale for overturning the law is not based on an opinion that the law violates the Wisconsin Constitution but rather that the law is too old, and legislatures from that long ago have no right to restrict our behavior today. Needless to say, there are thousands of old laws that we all regard as valid today.

And second, she reasons that it is right that judges of a specific political persuasion were elected and their political beliefs guided their decision. This leads to the conclusion that a politicized judiciary is good. However, when the shoe is on the other foot, I doubt she believes that Republicans stacking the Supreme Court with judges of a particular persuasion is good for the country. In my opinion, we need judges who make decisions based on the law and the Constitution and who do so in an apolitical manner. Unfortunately, judicial elections or appointments/approvals by the executive and legislative branches do not lead to an unbiased judiciary when party is placed above country. I am not sure the best method to appoint judges, but our country direly needs a fair and unbiased judiciary, not one that makes up rationales to allow the executive and legislative branches to operate without regard to the Constitution.

Chuck Bye, St. Paul

I agree with recent letter writers that Gov. Tim Walz should not seek a third term as governor (“Thank you, next,” Readers Write, July 9). However, I harbor this opinion for different reasons than the other writers. I do not think Walz has been a bad governor. Most of my close family members are Democrats, and both of my parents voted for the Harris/Walz ticket in the 2024 presidential election. And as a student myself, the free school lunches over the past two years have helped out a lot. However, I know that many other Minnesotans see the governor in a much more negative light than I do. Walz was out campaigning for three months last year. He has gone on the national stage since then, such as his recent speech in South Carolina about a month ago, making it look to some people like he cares more about his national profile more than the citizens of Minnesota.

As stated in the recent letters, Walz’s rhetoric has definitely become more combative (an example would be his comparison of President Donald Trump’s usage of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to the Gestapo). I back Walz on this one. What Republicans are doing right now is bad, and they should be held accountable for their actions. But some people just don’t see it that way. That is evidenced by the recent poll conducted by the Star Tribune/Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication, in which about half of respondents disapproved of Walz’s performance as governor and said he shouldn’t run again. If Walz runs for the governorship for a third time and loses to a Republican, it could be catastrophic. Minnesota can’t afford that.

Jonathan Blehert, Minneapolis

I take issue with a recent letter writer who complained about people “spewing inflammatory rhetoric” in the context of associating the following groups with Republicans: “deplorables, fascists, racists, homophobes, transphobes, Nazis, threats to democracy, sexists.” I agree that referencing Nazis is over the top, but the other terms are not inflammatory. They are accurate descriptions of actual behavior. One doesn’t have to look hard for examples, most of them from the guy at the top. Just a few:

The point is that we must not jettison our right to call out bigoted and disrespectful behavior. It’s not inflammatory to declare our concern about ethical or political misdeeds. When a president takes actions like a fascist, those are fascist actions. When a national politician makes a racist statement, it’s simply a fact to call that behavior racist. And to stave off the confusion that some have about affirmative action and other DEI initiatives, which seek to educate about and rectify centuries of wrongful discrimination, we must understand that calling out racism is not racism. Calling out racism, fascism, sexism, etc., is our civic duty.

Jeff Naylor, Minneapolis

Saw in the news that President Donald Trump is playing the heavy in Brazil’s internal affairs investigating former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (“Trump tariffs Brazil in act of reprisal,” July 10). How can we allow Trump to attempt to intimidate a foreign country into redirecting their internal judicial efforts? This is crazy. This is almost like the Russians meddling in our elections (which Trump fully approved). And where is the Senate these days? Still hiding in a corner?

Harald Eriksen, Brooklyn Park

After reading the article titled “Here’s how the University of Minnesota will pay its athletes” (StarTribune.com, July 10), what I fail to understand is how or why the universities are continuing to try to pass these paid athletes off as “students.” The bottom line is that they are now employees being hired and compensated to play a sport for the universities’ athletic departments. (How that fits within their academic mission befuddles me, but we’ll put that aside for a moment.) What they should do is separate the act of being a paid athlete from being a legitimate student — say, bring in the athlete under whatever financial arrangement the university agrees to with the athlete and separately walk the student over to the admissions office (if they are even interested in pursuing a degree) and have them apply for academic admission in the same manner and based on the same academic criteria as any other student.

If they get admitted to the school as a student, so be it — on merit. Kudos certainly to those who want to and can do both! But, please let’s stop kidding ourselves that all these paid athletes in college are legitimate students.

James Rowader Jr., Minneapolis