A great deal is at stake in the upcoming appointments to the United States Supreme Court, but the stakes are not what is popularly supposed, according to a judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, who will speak Sunday on Bainbridge Island.

“A very significant issue is the balance of power between the federal government and the states,” said Judge William Fletcher.

“Because the current majority favors the states, the federal government may become increasingly unable to handle issues that the politicians want to handle but find out that they can’t, because the Supreme Court declares those solutions unconstitutional.”

Fletcher will speak on “The Future of the Supreme Court” at 4 p.m. Oct. 5 at the library, kicking off the sixth season of the Library Speakers Forum.

A Clinton appointee to the Ninth Circuit, Fletcher said the current Supreme Court majority’s political philosophy, which appears compatible with the overall Republican agenda, will either strengthen or weaken with the next couple of appointments.

“I intend to talk about where the court goes from here with those appointments, and derivatively with what happens as a result of the next presidential election,” he said in a telephone interview with the Review.

Fletcher believes a weakening of the federal government would have profound consequences.

“Some things simply cannot be performed by state governments, particularly things dealing with economic regulation,” Fletcher said. Other types of programs must be uniform nationally to be effetive, he said, citing gun control as an example.

“It wouldn’t take too many states with loose regulations to make tighter controls in other states ineffective,” he said.

Where federal supremacy does hold sway, though, is in the area of law enforcement.

“Federalism considerations are trumped by the court’s crime-fighting desires,” he said.

Another issue he says is “very much in play” is the separation of church and state, where he said the court majority “is lowering the barriers, and shows an increasing wilingness to allow religion in public life.”

What is not at stake, Fletcher believes, is abortion rights.

“I think overruling the Roe vs. Wade decision is the Republicans’ greatest nightmare,” he said, referring to polls showing that the abortion issue deeply divides the Republican Party.

“So long as the decision is in place, they need not confront that, so I think it may appear to be in play but really is not.”

Fletcher grew up in Seattle and attended Harvard University, where he won a Rhodes Scholarship. He went to Yale Law School with fellow Rhodes Scholar Bill Clinton. From 1977 until 1999, he was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, then was appointed to the Ninth Circuit by Clinton.

His connection to Bainbridge Island comes through his wife, Linda Morris.

“She had relatives who lived on Wing Point,” he said. “We spent a lot of time there, and were married there, so this is something of a homecoming for me.”

——–

Other speakers in the Library Speakers Forum and their topics are as follows:

* Oct. 19: Tony Angell, well-known environmentalist, artist and writer, “Metaphors of Place: The Messages from Nature in the Forms of Art.”

* Nov. 9: Regina Hackett, award-winning art critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “From Market Pigs to Mark Tobey: Art in Seattle.”

* Jan. 11: Ronald Moore, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Washington, “Why Is a Joke Funny?”

* Jan. 24: Jere Bacharach, Golub Professor on International Studies at the University of Washington, “The Modern Middle East: Legacies of the Past.”

* Feb. 8: William Traver, founder of the William Traver Gallery of Seattle, “The History of Glass Art in the Northwest.”

* March 7: Preston Singletary, rising Tlingit artist recently featured at the Seattle Art Museum with a one-man show, “Fusing Native American Traditions in Glass.”

Bainbridge Arts and Crafts sponsors the last two speakers, Traver and Singletary, who will illustrate their talks with slide presentations.

Tickets are $40 for the series, with forms available at the library. Some single tickets may be available at the door for $12 on the day of the event. Proceeds go to support the library.

Information: 842-4162.