REACTIONS to Justice Kennedy’s Retirement
Kennedy’s retirement ensures the upcoming midterms will be all kinds of extra.
Wednesday afternoon, Justice Kennedy announced his retirement from the Supreme Court bench, effective July 31. Appointed to the Supreme Court by President Reagan in 1988, Kennedy has largely served as the court’s swing vote, but has consistently sided with free speech.
Kennedy’s retirement ensures the upcoming midterms will be all kinds of extra.
Republicans are dancing in the streets (or their homes in front of their computers while they blog, not that I’d know anything about that), celebrating the opportunity to install another Supreme Court Justice.
Democrats are not doing so well with the news. After a round of SCOTUS decisions that favored law over ignorant emotional reactivity, Kennedy’s retirement is salt in a festering wound.
And so, a roundup of initial reactions:
Trolltastic:
McConnell on Kennedy retiring: "It's imperative that the president's nominee be treated fairly."
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) June 27, 2018
The DNC committee upon hearing the news:
DNC Rules committee meeting interrupted by news of Justice Kennedy's retirement. Cries of ‘Ohh’ and ‘Oh my God.’ ‘This is not good news.'
— David Siders (@davidsiders) June 27, 2018
How it sounded inside a DNC committee meeting the moment Justice Kennedy’s retirement was announced pic.twitter.com/6S9uO2JGzQ
— David Siders (@davidsiders) June 27, 2018
LOL
HuffPost splash: "CODE RED" pic.twitter.com/K4U60A35ez
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) June 27, 2018
SO FUNNY. SO EDGY.
Thanks, Justice Kennedy. pic.twitter.com/2w8EjRwVtU
— Comedy Central (@ComedyCentral) June 27, 2018
A top legal writer for left-wing rag, Think Progress:
Fuck. You. Justice. Kennedy.https://t.co/q6Asq83WJL
— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) June 27, 2018
How will we live if we can’t kill all the children!
Anthony Kennedy is retiring. Abortion will be illegal in twenty states in 18 months. #SCOTUS
— Jeffrey Toobin (@JeffreyToobin) June 27, 2018
"Abortion will be illegal in a significant part of the United States in 18 months. There is just no doubt about that," says @JeffreyToobin on CNN, adding that "Roe v. Wade is doomed."
— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) June 27, 2018
This is very unsettling → If Kennedy retires under Trump, his "replacement will be much likelier to join a decision overturning Roe v. Wade and giving states the ability to ban abortions as early as the first trimester." #CourtsMatter https://t.co/G3iCmiVqy9
— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) June 26, 2018
“Bipartisan. What does it even mean?”
"The Senate should reject on a bipartisan basis, any justice who opposes Roe v. Wade," says Sen. Schumer
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) June 27, 2018
“But it’s an election year!”
Well, yes, but it’s not a presidential election year, so, no dice.
Democrats hoping people are dumb enough not to notice a presidential election is quite different from midterms:
JUST IN: Sen. Chuck Schumer: "Our Republican colleagues in the Senate should follow the rule they set in 2016: Not to consider a Supreme Court justice in an election year." https://t.co/3M4lsEpnab pic.twitter.com/9u7rKBKtb8
— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) June 27, 2018
Just a reminder to anyone suggesting Congress wait until the next legislature is sworn in to begin confirmation hearings on the next SCOTUS justice, the current legislature is just as much “the people’s voice” as the next.
History and stuff:
Reminder that 51 Senate Democrats voted to help confirm Justice Kennedy — a Reagan pick — in 1988, a presidential election year.
Twenty-eight years later, Senate GOP refused to consider Merrick Garland, citing new rule on election year votes. pic.twitter.com/MwEhKBBneZ
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) June 27, 2018
Kochtopus, attack!
Koch network says its prepared to spend seven-figures to support a nominee "in the mold of Gorsuch."
— Tarini Parti (@tparti) June 27, 2018
He says this like it’s a bad thing:
Kennedy handing his seat over to Trump is the most perfect example *ever* about how it is all the party of Trump. All of it. Kennedy looks down from SCOTUS and sees the man in the White House and says “Yes. Him. I want him to be the one to choose my replacement.”
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 27, 2018
When satire collides with reality
As Justice Kennedy Retires, Nation Takes Moment To Thank God Hillary Clinton Not Presidenthttps://t.co/zEEs8WPw61 pic.twitter.com/p3Pi90EQwB
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) June 27, 2018
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Comments
I laugh with great zeal at the pain of my marxist enemies!
What a shame for Chuck Schemer, that he forced McConnell to blow up the filibuster rule for Judges, on a battle where he lost anyways.
Schumer, in the basement of the Democrat Party headquarters, looking over the Bork Smear Machine, wondering if it’ll still work.
“Well, get some of these cobwebs off, give it a wash and little polish, it should be ragin’ to go.”
“Maybe, Chuck, but I think the old Bork Smear Machine is now just a clunker. The internet lets the right get the truth out there and to fight back. Old Ted lived in the great days of being able to hide the truth of his drinking, car accidents, the ladies, with the help of the MSM. If the internet had been around in 1969 Ted wouldn’t have been able to survive Mary Jo’s death even in lefty, loony Massachusetts. And in 1987 Bork would have easily survived Ted’s vicious smear and the MSM’s relentless attacks.”
Nah. This is the #MeThree!! era.
They’re going to dust off the Thomas Smear Machine.
Get ready for a parade of women who claim to have been harassed, objectified, and mistreated by the nominee.
It won’t work anymore. The Crying Boehners are gone.
There’s a new sheriff in town, and his name is Donald Trump.
(For the moment, the same old GOPe rats hanging around, but Sheriff Trump has ’em corralled. Right Mr. McConnell?)
love how midterm elections now count as potus elections
love how midterm elections now count as potus elections
They kinda sorta do, to the party that needs to win the midterms so it can impeach Trump and/or keep his SCOTUS nominees from being confirmed.
It doesn’t matter. The election result will not affect who makes the nomination. There is no coming new president for whom the nomination should be saved.
Popping the corn right now!
Kamala Harris seemed particularly agitated today. For her, that’s no easy trick. Anyone here feel sorry for her?
I feel so bad for her and the Dems that I’m gonna sprinkle their tears on a nice 24 oz porterhouse tonight
I can’t tell you how much I hope they run her in 2020. She’ll win What, 3 states? She’d get absolutely rekt.
If Trump nominates a Gorsuch type justice then the 5-4 break would still remain on many issues. I would expect John Roberts to ease into the ‘Kennedy Role’.
I dont’ see why. He now has the cover he needs to be judicial and write constitutional opinions. I see your cynical point, but I think it’s far more likely he’ll be happy with joining a bunch of 6-3 opinions and overturning some bad precedents. We’ll see.
Ego and media praise.
Cocktail parties!
illegally adopted children to protect
And, just like that, we’ve achieved escape from reality velocity and are on a one-way journey to the right-wing continent of Planet Barking Moonbat.
You have not even the slightest shred of the penumbra of a foundation for that allegation, which is defamation per se; if Roberts chose to sue you he would win, since you wrote it with “actual malice”, i.e. with complete disregard for whether it’s true or false.
It won’t be 6-3, unless Ginsburg (or another of the infamous 4) retires.
Roberts was desperate to get one normal judge to join him all he had was the liberal loons on the Obama care decision. He is already compromised by something. Whether it’s a skeleton in his closet or that he wants to seem moderate and centrist who knows.
Of course.
Whatever extortion material they had on Roberts during the obamacare vote will surely be waved before him again.
There is no foundation whatsoever for your scurrilous allegation. You are simply a deeply evil person who delights in lying about people for the sake of it.
Yes, a 5-4 split will continue, but we won’t have the “will he, won’t he” guessing that came with Kennedy’s presence.
But here’s another benefit. The 5 can now set the Court’s agenda for the coming years. Lots of writs for certiorari are filed each year with the Court. Outside of original jurisdiction cases the Court gets to choose which cases it will take. Under the rules of the USSC at least 4 justices have to agree to take a case. With 5 dependable justices getting 4 votes for particular cases should be routine. Knowing that Roberts could map out a strategy of where he wants the Court to go. True enough, the Court can only consider cases that come its way, but because there are lots of writs presented each year picking and choosing among that pool is a way of setting an agenda and a legacy.
Maybe now some of those 2nd Amendment cases will be heard, and not be risking that Right being gutted, filleted and force fed to us
The Babylon Bee once again hits a home run. The first year and a half of President Not-Hillary has been pretty darned good.
2016 wasn’t just an election year. It wasn’t just a Presidential election year. It was an election year in which a new President was guaranteed, thanks to the 22nd Amendment. Which of course Slippery Schumer knows perfectly well.
Kennedy retires, OK. I’m waiting for Ginsburg to retire – that would be something to celebrate. A real twofer!
I’m not particularly conservative, but I prefer to have conservative Supreme Court justices. Liberals have always had a tendency to believe that they should just get to rewrite the Law and the Constitution unilaterally, according to their own tastes. That tendency has always been alarming, but the Left’s nuttery since Jan 2017 has made that tendency genuinely threatening.
She’d die first. But considering she guides her decisions based on international law instead of the Constitution: good riddance.
DNC Rules committee meeting interrupted by news of Justice Kennedy’s retirement. Cries of ‘Ohh’ and ‘Oh my God.’ ‘This is not good news.’
Oh, no! I hadn’t thought about how much this news would upset the Democrats.
But now that I have thought about it….I can’t stop laughing!
“Conan, what is best in life?”
The lamentations… dems: “Justice Kennedy squeezed and pulled and hurt my neck!”
The audio from the DNC reminds me of when the Russians bored a hole down into Hell. 😉
McConnell’s promise to vote on the nominee this fall isn’t necessarily good news for at least three reasons: Flake, Murkowski, and Collins. Given the number of competitive seats that the Dems have to defend this year, January might be a more viable choice. Once again, thanks to all the Strange voters who couldn’t force themselves to pull the lever for Moore in Alabama.
Sure, they might not be able to get 50 GOP Senators to vote for a well-qualified conservative jurist…
But the real fun will be watching Senators Heitkamp, Manchin, Donnelly, Nelson, McCaskill, Tester… well, you get the idea. Democratic senators running for reelection in conservative states. Democrats who spend every election season trying to look as conservative as possible.
It’s Heads I Win, Tails You Lose.
If they vote to confirm, they risk alienating their base, who might stay home on election day, but if they vote against, they risk alienating the conservative majority in their state.
And at the worst, if the Senate fails to confirm the candidate, President Trump can just renominate the very same candidate in January, when the new Senate arrives with a few more Republican senators.
Murkowski and Collins will hem and haw to show how concerned they are about women’s rights/racism but will ultimately vote for anyone on Trump’s list. Flake is already a CNN/MSNBC commentator (witness his public visits to both), and will vote against anyone on the list. McCain is probably unable to vote. That will give 50 to 49; Pence’s vote will not be needed. Besides, Manchin will vote yes.
If the shoe were on the other foot, I would be encouraging my Senators to block by any means necessary this supreme court nominee. So I get why the Dems are up in arms. They should be. This really really matters.
That said, since it really really matters, it is super important that the Senate Republicans do anything and everything to get this replacement through before the Oct term starts. Including getting rid of the filibuster if needed.
As a reminder, even Justice Thomas was not filibustered despite everything that went on in his confirmation hearings. His nomination passed, I believe, 53/47.
Dems made their bed, let them live with it.
When Hillary lost, Democrats could have went hat in hand and begged forgiveness. They probably could have had a seat at the table.
Instead, they decided that Trump could not put an administration together. And they poured on abuse.
Today, they are paying dearly. So stupid.
upvoted this
that was one of my fears of a Trump Presidency was that he would turn into W-2.0 but the rabid and inane #resistance has pushed Mr.45 further and further right
however, what would be true poetic justice is if Ginsburg bites it in the next couple years
especially after Ginsburg’s ranted about Trump during the 2016 campaign
you think the Left is screaming now, just wait if HE replaces HER seat
although that in of itself is an interesting discussion
They already did get rid of the filibuster. When they did that to get Gorsuch confirmed they made it a change to the rules, not a one-time exception. It applies to all future Supreme Court nominations, including this one.
Can’t get rid of something that’s already gone.
“Bipartisan. What does it even mean?”
Easy. Bipartisan means cave in to the leftist / liberal position. How did you not know that?
And compromise means that we ask for two stupid things and you have to compromise by giving us at least one of them. Otherwise, you are being obstructionist.
I live in AZ. I have already emailed Flake and McCain to let them know that they need to do anything / everything possible to make sure we get a new USSC justice this fall before the new term. It is not a given, given how they have petty squabbles with Trump.
One of the things I pointed out in my email was that while I dislike Trump and his antics, the ONLY reason I voted for him was to prevent Hillary from replacing Scalia and to make sure we got conservatives on the federal bench.
Methinks you waisted your time. Both McCain and Flake have a personal vendetta which they will exercise as long as they are able
Yes, but for one of them, it is beep beep beep wheeeeeeeeeeee time very soon.
Come on Ruth. Sonya. Elana. Follow along!
Once again, this all goes to the comedy of the left betting the entire commmie house on an idiot like hillary klinton.
(Raise laugh track!)
I remember how theft left salivated over replacing Justice Scalia with a leftist demagogue. Then came the Turtle who stood firm at let the people decide who should pick that the replacement.
So this elction timing has nothing to do with the midterms.
How very disappointed Obumo must be having that decision from his hands. Love it!
Roe v. Wade? I can think of a lot more important things to consider, including definitively squashing the lower court rebellion vs Heller.
I’m majorly underwhelmed by fake conservatives.
I wouldn’t consider any justice an Originalist if he pretends that he doesn’t grasp the meaning of the words “shall not be infringed.”
I wonder if they have started to loot Gibson’s bakery yet. Seems like as good a reason as the last time.
Just witnessed a large bike ride protest down Hawthorne St. One guy was openly drinking a beer on his 3-wheel bike with a cooler in the basket. I wonder if he realizes that carries the same penalties as a DUI in a car. I guess in about 6 blocks he may find out as cops are directing traffic at the big intersection.
Note to pseudo-conservatives like George Will, Bill Kristol, the whole crew at NRO et al – if your way had prevailed in 2016 Hilary would me the one appointing at least to Associate SCOTUS justices. That is the madness of TDS.
Kennedy sat on the fence too much anyway.
We will come up with a Supreme Replacement.
Somebody that can read the Constitution, I would hope.
Kennedy could have retired under DUH WON. Instead he waited until after the elections and the socialists thought they still had control of the SCOTUS. Perhaps Kennedy finally got fed up with the socialists and this is his middle finger moment.