The Bubble: Kennedy ensured legacy by retiring before midterms, conservatives say
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Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is officially retiring, which gives President Trump another opportunity to appoint a justice. Here’s why the stakes are so high.
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Each week, USA TODAY’s OnPolitics blog takes a look at how media from the left and the right reacted to a political news story, giving liberals and conservatives a peek into the other’s media bubble.
This week commentators were riled up over the announcement that Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kenndy plans to retire at the end of July. Liberals said Kennedy was tarnishing his legacy by retiring before the election and not turning another Supreme Court seat over to President Donald Trump.
Conservatives said that Trump won Kennedy over and that retiring before Democrats could block Trump’s nominee is actually the best way for the Reagan-nominated justice to preserve his legacy.Â
Last week: Trump’s executive order doesn’t fix ‘zero tolerance’ immigration, liberals say
Liberal bubble: Kennedy destroyed his legacy as a gay rights hero
Kennedy has always been concerned about his legacy, said Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern. “Yet by choosing to retire under President Donald Trump, Kennedy imperils that legacy, throwing his most celebrated and far-reaching decisions into serious jeopardy,” Stern said.Â
Nowhere is that truer than with Kennedy’s rulings that ended discrimination against gays because “Trump is all but assured to replace Kennedy with a judge who shares the conservatives’ opposition to gay rights.” And with Kennedy gone, “there is a very real chance that nationwide marriage equality will become a thing of the past,” Stern said.Â
Today’s talker: Supreme Court Justice Kennedy is retiring. It’s time to fight.
Conservative bubble: Kennedy acted in the best interests of legacy
Kennedy “acted in the best interests of the Supreme Court and his own legacy” when he decided to retire because “by retiring on July 31 he gives a Republican President and Senate an opening to nominate and confirm a replacement with the best chance of keeping the Court tethered to the Constitution,” wrote The Wall Street Journal editorial board.Â
A Republican nominee also offers the best chance to sustain Justice Kennedy’s legacy, despite the fear and loathing you hear on the left. Democrats are already predicting the demise of abortion rights, the end of gay marriage, and no doubt we’ll be hearing about the revival of Dred Scott before the confirmation hearings on Justice Kennedy’s replacement are over.
More: Conservatives say the looming Supreme Court battle boosts their midterm prospects
Liberal bubble: Look to the ballot box, not the Supreme Court, to protect your rights now
Kennedy’s retirement “sends a stark message to the tens of millions of Americans who have long turned to the court for the vindication of many of their most cherished rights and protections: Look somewhere else,” wrote The New York Times editorial board.Â
That place is the ballot box. So show up and vote. In the absence of a Supreme Court majority that will reliably protect human dignity, universal equality and women’s right to control their own bodies, it is up to Americans who cherish these values to elect politicians at every level of government who share them.
More: Joe Biden calls for Democrats to ‘rise up,’ force ‘consensus’ pick for Supreme Court
Conservative bubble: Trump charmed Kennedy into retirement
Kennedy’s retirement announcement was the “culmination of Trump’s year-and-a-half-long charm offensive,” said Washington Examiner commentary writer Philip Wegmann.Â
“This president may not win many friends, but he put on a master class in how to influence Supreme Court justices,” Wegmann said. “It is hardly a coincidence that Kennedy retired with Trump in the Oval Office. The Reagan nominee could have just as easily called it quits when Obama was president. He didn’t. He also didn’t hold on until 2020 in hopes of another party taking over the White House. Instead, Kennedy retired smack dab in the second year of Trump after developing a close acquaintance with the president.”
More: Donald Trump says he wants Supreme Court justice who can serve 40-45 years
Liberal bubble: McConnell ignores his own principlesÂ
There is only one reason for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., not to follow the precedent he set in 2016 by refusing to consider Merrick Garland, then-President Barack Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court: “Mitch McConnell doesn’t care,” said Steve Benen, an MSNBC producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show.”Â
The majority leader’s detractors could offer an air-tight indictment, proving with absolute certainty that McConnell is an unprincipled hypocrite, indifferent to propriety, and outwardly hostile toward norms, traditions, and the integrity of American institutions.
And presented with the evidence, McConnell would shrug his shoulders and move forward with his plans.
Chris Matthews: ‘Hell to pay’ if Democrats don’t block Trump’s Supreme Court pick
Conservative bubble: Blame Harry Reid and Joe Biden
In an op-ed in The Washington Post, conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt said that McConnell, R-Ky., is “just following the rules” set by Democrats in moving forward with a vote on whoever Trump nominates before the midterm elections.Â
Hewitt argues that McConnell is simply following the “Reid Rule” set by former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in 2013 which allowed a simple-majority vote to confirm non-Supreme Court nominees. And to critics who call McConnell a hypocrite for not waiting until the election, Hewitt says that in the case of Merrick Garland, McConnell was following the “Biden Rule” set in 1992, which said a president should not name a nominee if a vacancy on the court opens up before an election. But, Hewitt said, the Biden Rule only applies in presidential election years.Â
Our view: Anthony Kennedy has an open mind. So, too, should his successor.
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