Jun 30 2007
Justice Kennedy, the Supreme Court’s Drama Queen
Justice Anthony Kennedy loves his job. He loves being the center of attention. He sits squarely in the catbird seat as it were, able to single-handedly affect change as no other individual in our government…this side of George Bush of course. He has more power than the head Supreme, Justice Roberts, because with the rest of SCOTUS evenly split between liberal and conservative views…it’s Justice Kennedy they all look to for the final vote, the final answer in a complex question of who’s right and who’s wrong.
To understand how this egotistical, self- described ‘nerd’ relishes his position of power and authority, one should look at his childhood. It was spent in the company of adults more times than not. Raised in Sacramento California, both his parents were part of the CA legislature and their friends were the famous and not-so-famou s of Californian legislative history..like Governor Earl Warren for example, who Kennedy ‘worked’ for as a young child of nine at the Statehouse. Since Kennedy had a hard time developing childhood friendships, his father saw to it that a job was created for the child at the statehouse. Damn, how does that work? I want a job created for me working for the Governor damnit..but I digress.
Justice Kennedy seems most at home when he is lecturing and condescending to others. He relishes his role as the deal-breaker in all SCOTUS cases now that Sandra O’Connor has retired. There are four obvious conservative s with Alito, Roberts, Scalia and Thomas. Then there are Breyer, Ginsburg, Souter and Stevens for the moderate to liberal pov. Kennedy waffles back and forth with little to tell us which way the wind is going to blow for him on each case. He sided with the moderates on the Military Tribunals and most abortion cases, yet it was Kennedy who wrote the opinion upholding the federal partial-birth abortion ban. This past week he voted with the four “Bushies” on the issues of freedom of speech, campaign ads, faith-based funding by the government and the role of the EPA in saving our planets non-human species. A recent study also showed that Kennedy is the most consistent Supreme who votes to strike down more state and federal laws combined than any of his colleagues. He is no friend of ‘states rights’..this I can pretty much state with authority.
Justice Kennedy also thinks SCOTUS is more important than Congress when it comes to affecting the lives of the average American. He might be right..but still, I take issue with this quote from him: “You know, in any given year, we may make more important decisions than the legislative branch does—precluding foreign affairs, perhaps,” he said. “Important in the sense that it will control the direction of society.”. When asked to name the most important qualities for achievement in his field, he replied: “To have an understanding that you have an opportunity to shape the destiny of the country.”
Wait a minute pal..isn’t your friggin job to stay the hell out of morality and merely define the rule of law? Correct me if I am wrong Anthony baby..but aren’t you just supposed to protect the Constitution and define the laws created by our legislative branch? What balls this man has..seriously, my dear reader..his grandiose view of his job scares the shit out of me. This man defines ‘activist judge’ to a proverbial tee, don’t you think?
What really causes me to despise Justice Anthony Kennedy was his role in Bush v. Gore. Yes, my dear reader..that case which decided that George Bush was our President instead of Al Gore. To quote from a New Republic article on Kennedy: “Kennedy initially joined the four liberals who wanted to allow the Florida recount to continue, but, after a brief show of agonizing, he changed his mind. This left Justices Breyer and Souter—who thought they could win Kennedy’s vote—with their hands extended, played for dupes. In the per curiam opinion itself, which Kennedy drafted on his own, his muddy writing style and self-aggrandizing conception of the Court’s role are on full display. “When contending parties invoke the process of the courts,” he wrote pompously, “it becomes our unsought responsibility to resolve the federal and constitution al issues the judicial system has been forced to confront.” Note the false modesty and the feint at shrinking from the burden of an “unsought responsibility.” Of course, it was the Court, at Kennedy’s insistence, that decided to settle a debate Congress would have resolved.”
This flip-flopping sumbitch possibly cost Al Gore the election. In one of the most divisive elections ever held in modern history..Kennedy had the nad’s to change his mind midway through the process. For this alone, I will never be able to forgive him and I personally want him to spend eternity washing the feet of Jerry Falwell in hell while he has to listen to the non-stop styling’s of American Idol first round losers who’s voices resemble the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard.
Yesterday, Kennedy once again sided with the conservative s, although he did not participate in writing the decision. He also stated he didn’t agree with the ruling in it’s entirety. My question is..why would you vote with them if you couldn’t support the complete ruling. Racial equality is something our country has danced around and attempted to provide since the civil war. What part of it was expendable Justice Kennedy?
SCOTUS agreed Friday to review whether Gitmo detainees may go to federal court to challenge their indefinite confinement. . In April, the court turned down an identical request, which makes this an incredible and highly unusual move. The last time this subject came up SCOTUS only had 3 of the necessary 4 Justices that wanted to review the case. True to form, Kennedy was on the fence. It is unclear if he flip-flopped again. The question this time is why a Military Tribunal over our regular court system. This case won’t come before them until after October sadly..but its something to give us hope. What side will Kennedy come down on? As noted earlier, he sided with the left side of the court in the Hamden case.
It seems the right doesn’t mind “activist” judges so long as the bastards go ‘their way’. I would like to bring this around full circle with some citations from a TomPaine article about some of the recent decisions by SCOTUS that I mentioned earlier, where Justice Kennedy held the swing vote. :
The conservative activists on the Supreme Court decreed in a series of 5-4 decisions:
- Individuals, who believe their tax dollars are being unconstitutionally misused by the White House to promote religious beliefs, aren’t allowed to enter a courthouse to make their case.
- The Environmental Protection Agency can avoid its responsibili ties under the Endangered Species Act, even though it’s a law reflecting the public will as passed by the democratically-elected Congress.
- Corporations can once again use their checkbooks to flood the public airwaves with political ads during election season, again overruling Congress.
It’s critical to recognize these decisions—along with earlier decisions to end privacy between a woman and her doctor, and to make it harder to challenge pay discriminati on—are part of a pattern. Justice Anthony Kennedy played an important role in each and every one of these decisions.
As long as Justice Anthony Kennedy likes to play “Drama Queen” for a day..we have faint hope that not all rulings will go along with the rightwingers bullshit scheme for America. But I ain’t holding my breath dear reader..and neither should you.
Tags: Gitmo, Torture, Habeas Corpus, SCOTUS, Justice Kennedy
Racial Equality, Womens right to choose, Equal Pay for Women, McCain-Feingold
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