I will never forgive those of my fellow African-Americans who facilitated the seating of Justice 'Uncle Ruckus." They fell for the "high-tech lynching" line just as Thomas's handlers knew they would. And what has he done but made things worse for the less than well-heeled in this country? He learned the wrong lesson from his grandfather, and my children will be paying for this mistake for most of their lives.

Michael Whitehead

Ann Arbor, MI

Jon Wiener states: "Thomas alone has argued that the First Amendment's separation of church and state applies only to the federal government, not to the states, meaning that Utah could declare itself a Mormon state or Georgia could declare itself a Baptist state."

Whether we like it or not, that's what the First Amendment states: "Congress shall make no law establishing religion, nor prohibiting the free expression thereof." This fear of Jon Wiener's is overblown. How many states are on the verge of becoming theocracies? Many of them have legal precedents against doing so. In addition, the Supreme Court's job is to interpret the law, not make the law.

Steven Kalka

East Rockaway, NY