Posted on 06/28/2018 8:47:18 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
While it is true that Justice Anthony Kennedy was a disappointment to conservatives, the observation misses the point. Kennedy did not owe conservatives decisions that they liked. What all Americans deserved from him was the conscientious application of the law. That they did not get it is the true indictment of his time on the Supreme Court.
Again and again, Kennedy made rulings that aggrandized the power of the Court and of himself as its swing justice. No justice, right or left, was more willing to substitute his judgment for that of elected officials and voters. No justice was less willing to tie himself down to clear rules or a legal philosophy that would constrain him in future cases, let alone rules or a philosophy that bore a plausible relation to the Constitution. We moved toward a system of government no Founder intended, in which his whim determined policy on a vast range of issues.
Some of Kennedy’s critics said that Kennedy had set himself up as our “philosopher king,” but the term suggests a level of sophistication in thought that he did not evidence. The trademark of a Kennedy opinion was a verbal effusion that gestured toward profundity without overcoming confusion. Most notoriously, he used an abortion case to opine that “at the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.” Nobody who ratified the Constitution or its relevant amendments thought in such terms. Nor would any of it be a legal defense against a parking ticket.
Kennedy’s lack of real guiding principles had the happy consequence that he sometimes voted for the right legal outcome — and even sometimes concurred in opinions that reached the right outcome for the right reasons. But we hope that his successor will have a much stronger sense of what fidelity to the law requires. And any plausible Trump nominee will be an improvement.
National Review IS a never Trumper rag. And at least Kennedy had the decency to wait until a Republican president with a Republican Senate before resigning as he said he would do.
“at “at the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.” Nobody who ratified the Constitution or its relevant amendments thought in such terms.”
Unreal. The women who murder babies aren’t thinking in terms of “one’s own” concept of existence, they’re taking the life of another. He could just as well apply this to any murderer.
Any plausible Trump nominee will be an improvement.
Kennedy had some serious flaws, especially considering foreign law when making decisions. But I’m very pleased with his recent decisions and the way he handled his resignation.
You HOPE it’ll be an improvement. There is a long tradition of Supremes who turned into the opposite of what a Republican president thought they would be.
RE: National Review IS a never Trumper rag.
Do you disagree with this particular editorial?
RE: “at “at the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence,
Which gives rise to an interesting question — if a devout Mohammad follower insists that Sharia law be implemented in the United States, is it not within the scope of their “right to define their own concept of existence”?
“National Review IS a never Trumper rag.”
Yes, but their take on Kennedy is correct.
Well, there is no question that NR is a Never Trumper rag. Nevertheless, like a broken clock being right twice a day, this editorial is totally correct. Kennedy is and always has been an egotistical dirtbag who intentionally overlooked the law so that he could be the center of attention. He always wanted to be Chief Justice but no president would ever appoint him. And so he settled for the next best thing, being the swing vote who could claim all the personal glory for such momentous decisions as gay rights, same sex marriage and other bogus rights. Kennedy has been a fraud from the beginning. Good riddance, dirtbag. It will take years to recover from your phony, pretentious, bogus idea of the law.
#NeverForgetNeverTrumpers
One of the most important considerations is whether the presumptive Justice plans to hobnob with the Georgetown cocktail party set.
If so, they will eventually bend to the desires of their leftist hosts.
cf Clarence Thomas, who instead reads Catholic theologians from the Middle Ages, and drives his own bus to Nebraska football games.
Sadly, I agree. I said, many times but mostly to myself, that NO ONE PERSON should have the power that Kennedy exercised. For his grandstanding votes, our country is much the worse off. And don’t get me started on Chief Justice Roberts.
The man retired at the Right time. Like a eulogy that’s the take I’m happy with.
I disagree, I believe most of the turncoat judges turned out to be EXACTLY what the RINO’s who appointed them wanted them to be (with a few exceptions like Reagan’s appointment of Kennedy)
Well, it is!
Ted Kennedy was an evil genius.
His decision to Bork Bork paid dividends for the Left
for three decades.
Good article.
bump
This piece is really uncalled for.
The NR can hardly with a straight face still claim to be what it has pretended to be for decades.
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