Today in Supreme Court History: July 31, 2018

7/31/2018: Justice Anthony Kennedy retired.

Justice Anthony Kennedy

 

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

Unanimously confirmed by an opposite-party Senate during an election year.

Could have easily happened to Merrick Garland in 2016, but . . .

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Unanimously? Easily? Garland? 2016?

You've beat the caterpillar for sure.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Oops! I misremembered and stand corrected. You need two more ingredients to match the caterpillar.

[Dilan Esper]

It's true and that is telling.

But at the same time, it's really important to contextualize this as coming after the rejection of Bork. IOW, Reagan nominated a right winger, it was shot down, and then he nominated a moderate and got a confirmation.

That's the way the process is supposed to work during a time of divided government.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Obama following this principle would have nominated a left winger, have it shot down by Senate vote, then nominate a moderate. Instead, he right away nominated someone Republicans already told him they would support, only to have them not act on the nomination at all. It was a different universe.

[Cal Cetín]

Don't you see? The Lord kept Garland off the Supreme Court so that he could be Attorney General and crush the white nationalist fascists under his bootheel.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

You rely on this "Lord" character. I will rely on Democrats enlarging the Supreme Court in faithful, meticulous compliance with the Constitution and other applicable law.

Let's see who has picked the mightier ally.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Every time I hear mention of AG Merrick Garland, I thank God that he was NOT confirmed to SCOTUS....

And as Bush '41 gave us Clarence Thomas, perhaps leaving this vacancy for him to fill would have been better.

[DaivdBehar]

What a despicable weasel this Ivy indoctrinated scumbag lawyer was.

[Cal Cetín]

Garland is doing fine, no need to feel sorry for him.

[DaivdBehar]

His extreme, leftist, radical agenda is on full display at the DOJ. Thankfully, it is not at the Supreme Court.

[F.D. Wolf]

Kennedy was, of course, not President Reagan's first choice, and far from the first choice of conservatives at the time.

On July 1, 1987, Reagan nominated Robert Bork to the seat opened due to the retirement of Lewis Powell. Bork was rejected by the Senate on October 23. Reagan then announced his intention to nominate Douglas Ginsberg, but Ginsberg withdrew his name from consideration a few days later after revelations that he had used marijuana (comically, five years before the election of Bill Clinton). Sen. Leahy announced that if Reagan's next nominee was unacceptable to the Democrats, they would refuse to hold hearings until after the 1988 election. So, Reagan gave them an "acceptable" nominee who was confirmed 97-0.

For all the pretended objections to Robert Bork, they really were about one thing: abortion, that most sacrosanct of rights, above all others, for Democrats. The abominable Roe v. Wade was only 14-years-old at the time, so not yet fully ingrained into the judicial canon. The Kennedy pick was a surrender to the Democrats, and it worked out well for them, as Kennedy spent his career voting to uphold the right to abortion.