By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--June 5, 2017
American Politics, News | CFP Comments | Reader Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us
Liberal activists are urging U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, a conservative with whom they often disagree, to put off any thought of retirement, fearing President Donald Trump would replace him with a jurist further to the right. The liberal Democrats' keep-Kennedy campaign, being pursued publicly and privately, reflects how powerless they have become against the Republican president when it comes to high court vacancies since the Senate in April reduced the vote tally needed to confirm a Supreme Court nomination to 51 from 60. It also shows how big the stakes are for both sides in any decision that Kennedy, who turns 81 in July, makes about his future on the court. If he were to retire, Trump would have a historic opportunity to recast the court in a more conservative posture, possibly for decades to come. Some former Kennedy clerks have said he is thinking about retirement. He has declined to comment on his plans, despite requests from many media outlets including Reuters.
Right now, Kennedy "is the most important man in America. He is the vote that swings the court on the most important cases that reach it," said Elizabeth Wydra, president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, a left-leaning think tank.. . . Wydra and other liberals are lionizing Kennedy and his legacy in the media. Some are reaching out to former Kennedy clerks and others who know him, asking them to urge him not to retire, said Michele Jawando, a legal advocate at the Center for American Progress think tank in Washington.That last paragraph is actually quite something. How can liberals lionize Kennedy in the media? They don't own the media. Unless, of course, they're so in league with the media that all they have to do is establish a narrative and they know full well the media will trumpet it all they want. Gosh. You don't think . . . Of course, the real reason for the left's panic is the outcome of its own miscalculation on the Gorsuch nomination.
View Comments
Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain
Follow all of Dan’s work, including his series of Christian spiritual warfare novels, by liking his page on Facebook.