The Register article, "High court set to hear Arab deportation case"
[Front Page, Nov. 3], concerning the plight of Michel Shehadeh,was a
fine example of objective reporting and a deplorable example of how
low our justice system descends when it tramples our rights under the
Constitution of the United States of America.

Shehadeh, although a legal resident of this country, was arrested for
passing out leaflets about Palestine that counters the policy of this
country. That's a stupid charge considering how this country was founded.

The Declaration of Independence strongly countered the policies of
18th century England. As a result we became a free and independent
state that provided through its own Constitution that others would
have the same free speech as the founders of this country.

It makes no difference at all what Shehadeh's leaflets said. He had
the right to pass them out, as we all have the right to read or not to
read them.

No government entity has the right to decide by force what the
American public can read and what it cannot read. If the United States
government can now arrest and deport people who speak out openly and
who pass out opinionated leaflets, then one wonders when it will start
arresting people who write strongly opinionated letters to the editors
of newspapers.

Don K. Pierstorff
Costa Mesa