Supreme Court on Civil Rights

There can no longer be any doubt about the devastating social impact that the Reagan appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court are having and will continue to have upon our “kinder and gentler” nation. With its latest ruling (Part I, June 6), the so-called “conservative” court has continued America’s long journey backward into the darkness of prejudice, segregation, and economic discrimination.

Griggs vs. Duke Power, a precedent which was nearing 20 years of age, opened the doors of equal opportunity and upward mobility for all workers in the United States. It is little wonder that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as well as the conservative jurists of the court, misunderstood the purpose of that decision. In calling the decision “nonsensical” Justice Byron White revealed the true face of this supposedly non-activist new court. He insisted that (according to The Times) “there are few nonwhites available for skilled jobs such as ‘accountants, managers, boat captains, electricians, doctors, and engineers’. . . .”

Notwithstanding the fact that such logic is reminiscent of Al Campanis’ views on blacks in professional baseball, it strikes me as ironic, given White’s comment about “boat captains,” that the drunken captain of the Exxon Valdez was white.

RICHARD NEWTON MEYER

Los Angeles