Opinions Matter

To the Editor:

Mr Green says “…your opinion doesn’t fly in our fact based court system,” and “In some places in America, facts still matter and your opinion doesn’t fly.”

I would suggest that the result of almost all cases in our court system is the opinion of one person (judge), a small group of people (jury), a small group of knowledgeable people (panel of judges), or a small group of “experts” (Supreme Court), and sometimes the opinion of a large group of people (social media) can affect the verdict of court cases. The verdict is the opinion of the persons judging the particular case and each verdict is a collective opinion.

It is not at all unusual for the Supreme Court, the “experts,” to render a verdict based on the opinion of five justices while the other four have a directly opposite opinion and all after listening to the same “facts.”

So, opinions do matter in our fact-based court system.

N Mercer Round Top