October 12, 2018: Del Rio News-Herald * OPINION * Letter to the Editor * It's still America, isn't it




Letter to the Editor,

It’s still America, isn’t it?

In 1995, O’Rourke was arrested by University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) police on burglary charges. He says it was only a prank, so keeping moving on; there’s nothing to see here.

In 1998, O'Rourke was arrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI), the police report documents that he was trying to leave the scene, the charges were dropped after he completed a court-ordered DWI program. He says it was only a mistake, so keep moving on; there’s nothing to see here.

In 2013, O’Rourke violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which prohibits members of Congress from participating in the initial public offering (IPO) of company stocks. He says he didn’t know that it was illegal, so keep moving on; there’s nothing to see here.

Kavanaugh had a squeaky clean, exemplary and unblemished record as attested to by six FBI background investigations until he was nominated to be Justice of the Supreme Court. Then out-of-the-blue a slew of allegations and accusations of sexual assault were hurled at him. With the mudslinging and smears coming out of nowhere, there was an onslaught of unsubstantiated and uncorroborated claims and charges.

I’m not a lawyer, I don’t even play one on TV; but I have read enough best-selling legal thrillers and studied American history to have a rudimentary knowledge that we live under the rule of law, not a tyrannical regime.

I know that there is a presumption of innocence, that evidence must be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. The court of public opinion is not the justice of due process afforded to all citizens, in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Throughout our country’s history this has stood the test of time.

The Democrats and their megaphone media have made a mockery of the Constitutional requirement of the Senate’s role in giving advice and consent about the President’s nominee to the Supreme Court. They have once again turned it into a “kangaroo court” and that is un-American.

Marian Casillas, Ed.D.
Del Rio, Texas