Attacks on the press

• Author: Keith Roberts
• Pages: 6-6

ATTACKS ON THE PRESS

President Bob Carlson’s message,

“America: The Resilient Land of the

Free,” November, page 8, is an elo-

quent statement of support for the

rule of law, a free press, and free a nd

fair elections. It did, however, make

me want to know what defenders of

the Trump administrat ion would say

in response. Perhaps they have dif-

ferent ideas about the defi nition of

the rule of law, free press and free

and fair elections. Or mayb e they

feel that President Trump and his

admini stration fully supp ort those

concepts. Are there not, t hen, any

ABA members who could wr ite a

response in defense of the Trump

administra tion? Be cause I think

many of us would really like t o know

what their reasoning might be!

Keith Roberts

New York City

Mr. Carlson states: “Attacks on

free speech and a fr ee press also have

no place in our society. Critici sm of

citizens for exercising their r ight to

dissent or be heard and ca lling the

press the ‘enemy of the people’ can-

not be tolerated.” Does he not see

the inconsistency in thes e two

sentences?

Constitutionally, criti-

cism must in fact be tol-

erated unless it contai ns

falsehoods or, as applied

to the press, mali-

cious false hoods.

B. Paul Hatcher

Chattanooga,

Tennessee

VOTING RI GHTS

When I was reading

“Taking Away the Vote,”

October, page 9, I was

reminded of a case

I had more than 20

years ago. I accepte d an

appointment by the court

to represent a young woman

whose parents were seek-

ing a guardian ship. The peti-

tion listed the right to vote a s one of

the actions the proposed wa rd would

lose, and the parents had done what

many people do when completing

the petition form to be appointed a s

a guardian: They checke d every box,

including the right to vote.

I objected to my client losing her

right to vote, which apparently no

one had done before because the

judge was surprised at t he objec-

tion. He reasoned that she was not

able to knowingly obtai n facts to

understand the issues and int elli-

gently exercise the right to vote. My

response was, if the law requ ired

everyone who voted to do so know-

ingly and intelligently, a large per-

centage of those who now vote would

not be able to do so. He smiled and

granted my request to not include

the right to vote in the appointment

of the guardian.

Fortunately, in New Hampshire,

the right to vote is no longer listed

on the petition as a right that c an be

denied to a proposed ward.

Diana G. Boland er

Wolfeboro, New Hampshire

ANOTHER ADDICTION

Jeena Cho’s article “Tales of

Addiction,” October, page 26, is

great except that she make s the

same mistake most law yer assis-

tance programs m ake around the

country. Because a large por tion

of the membership had alcohol

or other substance abuse prob-

lems, they tend to omit the

compulsive gambling problem.

Considering that addict ion has

probably caused more economic

loss to their clients and to the

lawyers’ funds t han any other,

we tend to disregard the dev-

astating problems becaus e

it really is di cu lt to detect

before the devastation occ urs.

Most of the problems are discovered

after the client has los t huge sums.

Max Hahn

New York City

ADDITIONAL WORDS

With regard to “How Do You Say

It?” October, page 24, I can’t wait for

Bryan A. Ga rner’s next article. Oops!

I mean I can hard ly wait. Great

thought-provoki ng challenges.

Greg Dixon

Tro y, O hio

Bryan A . Garner’s pronunciation

quiz was dishear tening, to say the

least. As a long-serv ing attorney and

CPA, I only got nine out of 25 cor-

rect and thus must assu me I have

mispronounce d these common terms

for most of my career, although I

worked alongside astute and capable

attorneys on Capitol Hill for most of

my life. When Garner refers to one

“old pronunciation as a lost cause,”

blames another “pronunciation to

law professors who accent the last

syllable perhaps to help their stu-

dents spell the word correctl y on

exams,” and refers to “medieva l Lat-

inists respell ing one word based on

false ety molog y,” I am embar rassed

that I am so out-of-touch and igno-

rant. Although his t est is enlighten-

ing, it certain ly does humble us old

legal dinosaurs who have had suc -

cessful ca reers speaking what we

thought was proper English.

Leslie L. Megyer i

Wash ingt on, D.C .

CORRECTION

On page 38 of the December issue,

Jim Block should have been credited

for the photo of Frank Wu.

The Jour nal regre ts the error.

Letters

6 || ABA JOURNAL JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2019

Letters to the Editor You m ay submit a letter by email to a bajournal@

americanbar.org or vi a mail—Attn: Letter s, ABA Journal, 321 N . Clark St. Chica go, IL 60654.

Letters must concern articles published in the Journal. They may be edited for clar ity or space.

Be sure to include your nam e, city and state, an d email address.

PHOTOS BY SHUTTERSTOCK; WINN FUQUA PHOTOGRAPHY