'ONE STRIKE' EVICTION FROM PUBLIC HOUSING

As sadly ridiculous as our Supreme Court was in supporting the "one
strike" eviction ruling ("'One Strike' Eviction Policy Affirmed,"
March 27), surely it should be consistent in its folly and include
alcohol abuse, if not usage itself, in the list of substances and
paraphernalia whose mere possession by even a visitor to a publicly
owned residence is cause for eviction. (It's unbelievable, isn't it.)

Applying eviction from public housing because a child, visitor or
owner on or off the premises abused alcohol, a higher standard than
mere possession, would of course mean that President Bush would be
evicted from the White House for his daughters' actions. Great
sections of military dormitories and base housing would be vacated
(unless military drinking has changed radically since my days in the
Army) and many members of Congress would lose their publicly owned
office space.

A marijuana cigarette or a few bottles of beer. We all know the major
difference is that one is illegal and the other isn't. Either will do
the job on your brain and get you out there. Our senators and
representatives need to act now to redress this amazingly unfair
policy. Chief Justice William Rehnquist and the court justices saw
nothing in the U.S. Constitution that would prevent this policy, but I
suppose that's understandable, since they've let the DEA seize and
sell property of suspected drug dealers and users prior to a trial of
the accused.

Proof of intent, knowledge or participation in a criminal activity,
the presumption of innocence until proven guilty--all that is what I
thought were constitutional matters we all should expect the Supreme
Court to honor. This is all very sad.

Mark Davidson, Costa Mesa

The Supreme Court ... not! The Supreme Court's recent tenant eviction
ruling confirms and affirms the sad fact that the court is out of
touch, out to lunch and outdated. The court should be abolished and
dismantled--it's become a politicized dinosaur that is an
embarrassment to the great citizens of this country and to the great
history of the court itself.

The justices are a joke that is not funny.

Ted Neff, Los Angeles