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A secret act of judicial tyranny

In a famous Supreme Court one-liner, reminding the legal community of the finality of the court’s rulings, the late Justice William J. Brennan Jr. is reputed to have said that the Constitution means whatever any five of us say it means. This reflects the basic math that five is a majority of nine. It also reflects the theory of realism in constitutional jurisprudence. Realism, in this context, is the view that the Constitution is stagnant and unenforceable of its own existence. Realism teaches that the Constitution is only enforceable when the government voluntarily complies with it ...

Dear Annie: Choosing peace over an endless battle

Dear Annie: I have read your responses to letters about barking dogs and neighborhood noise, and I appreciate the calm, compassionate way you approach these conflicts. You encourage people to start with empathy, assume good intentions and try to work things out neighbor to neighbor. That sounded wise to us, so we followed that advice exactly. We live surrounded by multiple homes with several dogs, and the barking has become a constant part of our lives. It comes from three sides of our property and even from farther down the street. It interrupts sleep, work, conversation and the ...

Applause, Applause

Each Saturday, The Express community newspaper highlights people, groups and activities our readers deem worthy of applause. We want to give a huge SHOUT OUT and a big THANK YOU to the Susquehanna Valley Big Twins Motorcycle Club for putting together a basket benefit for us during their April breakfast at their club and to EVERYONE who came out to help our cause. Because of YOU, we were able to raise a total of $2,313. We are beyond grateful to everyone who came out to support us, to everyone who provided baskets and prizes for the raffle and to everyone who bought chances for the ...

Even more notable Havenites

Express readers seem to enjoy hearing about notabilities in Church’s “Old Town,” renamed Lock Haven. These are personal memories about Havenites who may be gone, but not forgotten. We once had accessible doctors McDonough, Triers, Delgrippo, Brickley, Long, Dolan, Myers, Clover, Lindsay, Teah, Adams, Brandt, Hoberman, Thomas Dicuccio and a host of others, including Michael R. “Mickey” Greenberg. Prepared with his fresh basil spice, we were enjoying a late-night pizza when Mickey’s Sunset Pines phone rang and he had a long dialogue with an ill patient. I met Mickey at ...

The mixed messages or dog whistles from Trump

When President Donald Trump says he “may do” something, it also means he “may not” do something. He covers all his bases so no one can be surprised. Trump realizes that people will believe what they want to believe. Because of that fact, Trump gives messages that some people can embrace and others can dislike. He taps into people’s worst and best inclinations. His magic is that he never apologizes for either action, leaving people to embrace what they want to embrace in Trump’s often dualist messages. Then, when things go wrong (as they often do), Trump offers a ...

Dear Annie: Standing firm with family

Dear Annie: My husband has three children from his first marriage. For the first 20 years of us being married, everything was great. But the last 15 years have been hell with two of the children. They became super religious and political to the point they are always pushing their way of life on us. We told them to stop, that we have our own religious and political beliefs and to please accept us for who we are, and we will be respectful of what they think. It’s been 14 years since and we’ve had no contact with them. A few weeks ago, they popped up in a horrible way. I won’t ...