Posted on 01/18/2006 9:59:57 AM PST by SirLinksalot
Anthony Kennedy—the new Sandra Day O'Connor.
Lost in last week's cacophony about the critical role of Sandra Day O'Connor as sole and exclusive swing voter on the U.S. Supreme Court was any sign of respect for the other sole and exclusive swing voter on the U.S. Supreme Court: Anthony M. Kennedy. Kennedy's majority opinion in today's big physician-assisted-suicide case serves as the perfect reminder of who's going to call the shots in the near future.
The 6-3 opinion in Gonzales v. Oregon—a decision upholding Oregon's physician-assisted-suicide law from attack by the Attorney General's Office—sharply outlines the court's Anthony Kennedy-shaped future. The dissenters are Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and—not surprisingly—Chief Justice John Roberts. In the majority you'll find the court's usual moderate-to-liberal lineup: John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter, and Stephen Breyer. The other two votes for Oregon thus come from the "swingers": O'Connor, who will (barring some stunning revelation that he dances for money in women's lingerie) soon be replaced by Samuel Alito, and Kennedy. In other words, this opinion was Kennedy's latest big chance to swing for the bleachers, and swing he does.
While it's true that O'Connor has tended to vote with the majority more frequently than Kennedy, and that she has done so in some big 5-4 decisions, it's also true that in other extremely contentious areas, it is Kennedy, not O'Connor, who has swung the court leftward. It was Kennedy who weighed in with the broad rationale of the court's liberals on a key gay-rights case; Kennedy who voted with the court's liberals to strike down the death penalty for juveniles and the mentally disabled; and Kennedy who has joined with O'Connor (and David Souter) to reaffirm the basic right of a woman to have an abortion.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
He has been for the last few years, see Raich and Kelo.
Kennedy right now is the most powerful person in this country by far.
I hate Kennedy but Delay wasn't smart calling for his impeachment when Kennedy will be deciding the texas redistricting case.
Stevens needs to go.
It wasn't lost on me.
Kennedy is normally reliable, but not always. We'll have to live with that. The Supreme Court won't be a surefire lock on every case until we replace either Ginsburg or Stevens.
ANTHONY KENNEDY FOR RETIREMENT!
I posted the following on one of the live Alito hearing threads, and once more on another Alito-related thread. Feel free to use it elsewhere as needed.
Reliably conservative:Chief Justice William Rehnquist
Justice Antonin Scalia
Justice Clarence ThomasSwing (= unpredictable) votes:
Justice Anthony KennedyJustice Sandra Day O'ConnorReliably liberal:
Justice Stephen Breyer
Justice John Paul Stevens
Justice David Souter
Justice Ruth Bader GinsbergToo soon to tell:
Chief Justice John Roberts (replaced Rehnquist)
Soon-to-be Justice Samuel Alito (will replace O'Connor)As the above shows, if Roberts and Alito prove to be reliable conservative votes, we have a 4-4 court with one swing vote, an improvement on the 3-4 Rehnquist court with two swing votes, but not a slam dunk for conservative issues.
For those who view the court not in terms of liberal vs. conservative, but in terms of small vs. big government tendencies, nothing in the new court makeup suggests it will begin to roll back the excesses of federal growth and misuse of the Commerce clause we've seen since at least the 1930's.
waiting for Stevens to retire...one way or the other.
at 85; I expect GWB to be looking for a replacement within the next three years...
He may take a dirt nap soon enough.
Great breakdown. I figure 1 swing vote is better than the 2 we had.
Thomas seems to "get" the truth of the Commerce clause. Sometimes Scalia does, too. Roberts? Who knows. Alito? Unsure, but I will say he reminds me more of Justice Thomas than any other.
Kennedy's only in his 60s. He'll be around a while, unfortunately.
"waiting for Stevens to retire...one way or the other.
at 85; I expect GWB to be looking for a replacement within the next three years..."
"He may take a dirt nap soon enough."
What about the dread Ginsburg? I heard she is not well.
"waiting for Stevens to retire...one way or the other.
at 85; I expect GWB to be looking for a replacement within the next three years..."
"He may take a dirt nap soon enough."
What about the dread Ginsburg? I heard she is not well.
But another key to understanding Kennedy's role as a swing voter is simpler: He just really, really likes the power.If you care more about getting your name in the history books than you do defending the constitution, then you'll naturally drift towards Judicial Activism, which will make you famous and the hero of generations of leftist university historians to come.
Stevens will either retire on his own, or God will retire him. Hard to say which will come first.
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