# Justice Kennedy retiring **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 27, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857 "2018-06-27T18:14:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/121 "2018-06-28T12:40:16Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > In all seriousness, Trump’s priority here is going to be evading Mueller. Are you saying that he will nominate Mueller? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/122 "2018-06-28T12:49:26Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > How’d the media get all lefty? The pool of people that are inclined to become journalists are predominately left leaning. So you end up with a left leaning media. > [@](#): > > If nobody wants to hear their lying crap, then how did they accomplish this takeover? Force of arms? The seductive allure of sturdy Slavic women? What? People buy what is on the shelves. If all that’s offered is left leaning media then that’s what people buy. When an alternative is offered by Rupert Murdoch, people buy THAT and Fox becomes the most highly rated channel in Television. > [@](#): > > How did they take over this Board, revolutionary cadres from the Audio-Visual Club? Mostly for the same reason that journalists are mostly left leaning. Intelligent thoughtful people tend to lean left, its not universal but more of them lean left than right. Hard left people are tolerated here, regardless of how stupid they are. Hard right leaning people are clearly not welcome and are much more susceptible to banning. Right leaning people take notice of this bias and moderate themselves to avoid more persecution than is absolutely necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/123 "2018-06-28T12:50:49Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Bricker, you know that this is a common-law country, and the constitutional law of the nation is orders of magnitude larger than _The Constitution_ (Madison _et al.,_ 1787) and parts of it significantly older than _The Constitution._ And common law can be overturned by another SCOTUS opinion, especially relatively recent common law that has been the source of controversy since its first pronouncement. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/124 "2018-06-28T12:57:00Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Tell me **Bricker** , while you seem to be so concerned about the welfare of the embryo, do you give two shits about the welfare of the mother? That question has little to do with the point I’m making. If the US Postmaster General issued a legal opinion protecting the right to an abortion, and our national institutions accepted it, I’d argue against it, not because I disagreed with the policy (and I do) but because the US Postmaster General is not the right authority to issue binding rulings on abortion. And if the US Postmaster General issued a legal opinion protecting the right of an unborn child to avoid an abortion, and our national institutions accepted it, I’d argue against it, not because I disagreed with the policy (which I do not) but because the US Postmaster General is not the right authority to issue binding rulings on abortion. Do you understand now? ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/125 "2018-06-28T12:59:06Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Oh, and I assume **Shodan** said some stuff. I wouldn’t know. Guy crossed the line a little while back, and his occasional funny quips were no longer worth putting up with him. I discovered that we get more intelligent conversation if we just ignore what he has to say, as he’ll just snark from the kiddie table. I think the point I stopped caring what he had to say was when he brought out the “Black lies matter” slogan a ways back. What a shitty racist fuckstick of a failed human being. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/126 "2018-06-28T13:10:03Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > The pool of people that are inclined to become journalists are predominately left leaning. . Why do you suppose that is? ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/127 "2018-06-28T13:12:03Z")
> [@anomalous1](#): > > Republicans do not want this. You are seeing this through a fish-eye lens of your selected media exposure. We want a level playing field for all instead of installing some artificial handicap and telling the poor, muslim, disabled, gay or minority population that they are not good enough and need help because their enemies that are white, straight males through no choice of their own are oppressing them to get ahead instead of working with the merit system as intended. Define “merit”. I am the white male son of a small-town lawyer. I started life well ahead of most non-white and non-males. Not my fault, but also I did nothing to ‘merit’ it. “Life as a video game and I get to play on the ‘easy’ setting” is an apt analogy. How would you suggest dealing with this? And it is a society thing: there are undoubtedly poor latina girls who, given my opportunities and intelligence would have made much of more of both of them, and made the world a better place than I did. In my mind, that is what affirmative action is attempting. Sure, people will take advantage of it (people being people), but the question is, on the whole, does it make the world better? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/128 "2018-06-28T13:29:12Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > The biggest problem with Gorsuch is that he is sitting in someone else’s seat. That’s not his fault. Sure it is. He knew the Garland situation was unprincipled and unethical. He could have recused on that basis, but he chose not to. I don’t _blame_ him, but he is not without fault. . ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/129 "2018-06-28T13:34:00Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Are you saying that he will nominate Mueller? I’m saying that it’s rare that you get to interview one of the judges who will have a say in whether you go to jail or not. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/130 "2018-06-28T13:41:24Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > That question has little to do with the point I’m making. If the US Postmaster General issued a legal opinion protecting the right to an abortion, and our national institutions accepted it, I’d argue against it, not because I disagreed with the policy (and I do) but because the US Postmaster General is not the right authority to issue binding rulings on abortion. > > And if the US Postmaster General issued a legal opinion protecting the right of an unborn child to avoid an abortion, and our national institutions accepted it, I’d argue against it, not because I disagreed with the policy (which I do not) but because the US Postmaster General is not the right authority to issue binding rulings on abortion. > > Do you understand now? Yeah, that’s all well and good, but why does the price of stamps keep going up? ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/131 "2018-06-28T13:50:41Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Consider this: it makes sense that Pres POH would try to seat a Justice as soon as possible. That would clearly further the agenda of the party in power. It’s the obvious thing to try to do asap. > > BUT there is the streak of pure contrariness that he is known for. He often rejects the predictable option just because it’s what people expect. Even his own people. If the reasonable sequence of events is A –\> B –\> C –\> D, he will do A –\> B –\> C and go straight to \*Fuck You \*just to show how independent and spontaneous he is. If everyone thinks the best decision is \, he’ll do the opposite just to prove how much smarter he is than all those wimps who thought they could predict him. He’s Mr. Shoot from the Hip, not Mr. Keep on Course. Except a golf course. Of course. I would say the only possibility of him fucking this up is if he insists on nominating Jeanine Pirro or some other reality celebrity. Even then, he’d get a mulligan, but it might take till after election day. I’m loathe to underestimate his stupidity, but I don’t think this is actually going to happen. Ultimately, he is a lazy, lazy man. He will take the top name of the list he is handed and try to make a reality show about it. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/132 "2018-06-28T13:57:47Z")
Marcia Coyle from the National Law Centre was saying on PBS last night that it was rumoured for more than a year that Kennedy’d be retiring, and that it would be sometime this year he’d do it. I guess you had to be in the know. I’m sure President Traitorous Shithead will try to sluice Justice Nugent in there A.S.A.P. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/133 "2018-06-28T14:01:17Z")
Why does the right still howl about abortion? It’s over. You lost. Abortion will always be available. Much of it can be done with pills instead of back alley butchers. You can never, ever win this fight. Go back to crying about prayer in public schools or whatever other unconstitutional nonsense you want to impose on the citizenry. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/134 "2018-06-28T14:35:38Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > No. I mean when the claim is that the Constitution requires that first trimester abortions be free from state interference, that’s not a claim that can be said to unambiguously derive from the text. > > I think what makes you angry is that you know this. I’m sure you aren’t claiming that “firearms which are in common use for lawful purposes are protected, but not others” can be unambiguously derived from the text of the Second Amendment. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/135 "2018-06-28T14:47:36Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > I would say the only possibility of him fucking this up is if he insists on nominating Jeanine Pirro or some other reality celebrity. Even then, he’d get a mulligan, but it might take till after election day. I’m loathe to underestimate his stupidity, but I don’t think this is actually going to happen. > > Ultimately, he is a lazy, lazy man. He will take the top name of the list he is handed and try to make a reality show about it. My underlining. To continue to flog this equine: he doesn’t take advice from anyone, especially good, reasonable advice. It’s because he believes that he is the smartest guy who ever lived. To take anyone else’s advice would be to concede that they are capable of coming up with an idea as good as one of his. That will not do. No sir, it will not do. If he is handed a list of 15 candidates, you can be sure his choice will NOT be on that list. It probably will be a reality show star. How about Honey Boo-Boo? Is she old enough yet? Okay, well, maybe her mom. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/136 "2018-06-28T14:51:09Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Works for me. I propose one bottle, 750 ml or closest size, booze of your choice, not to exceed $50 retail, from me to you if a replacement for Anthony Kennedy is not confirmed by the Senate on or before November 6, 2018. > > And one bottle of Glenrothes 750 ml as noted above, also not to exceed $50, from you to me if a replacement for Anthony Kennedy is confirmed on or before November 6, 2018. > > Suits? You’re disgusting! People’s live could hang in the balance of the decision, at least, the rights to control their lives, and you’re debating which size of bottle of booze you’re going to bet. Come out of your gilded tower, you insensitive fuck. You’re Randolph and Mortimer Duke, betting a dollar that they can ruin a man’s life. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/137 "2018-06-28T14:52:45Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > My underlining. > > To continue to flog this equine: he doesn’t take advice from anyone, especially good, reasonable advice. It’s because he believes that he is the smartest guy who ever lived. To take anyone else’s advice would be to concede that they are capable of coming up with an idea as good as one of his. That will not do. No sir, it will not do. > > If he is handed a list of 15 candidates, you can be sure his choice will NOT be on that list. It probably will be a reality show star. How about Honey Boo-Boo? Is she old enough yet? Okay, well, maybe her mom. I am at a loss to explain how you think he decided on Gorsuch if not from someone else’s advice. As far as I can tell Tramp does not have a lot of Tenth Circuit judges in his social circle. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/138 "2018-06-28T14:54:14Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > My underlining. > > To continue to flog this equine: he doesn’t take advice from anyone, especially good, reasonable advice. It’s because he believes that he is the smartest guy who ever lived. To take anyone else’s advice would be to concede that they are capable of coming up with an idea as good as one of his. That will not do. No sir, it will not do. > > If he is handed a list of 15 candidates, you can be sure his choice will NOT be on that list. It probably will be a reality show star. How about Honey Boo-Boo? Is she old enough yet? Okay, well, maybe her mom. Gorsuch was right off a list and I suspect the next one will be too. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/139 "2018-06-28T14:54:50Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Why does the right still howl about abortion? It’s over. You lost. Abortion will always be available. Much of it can be done with pills instead of back alley butchers. You can never, ever win this fight. Go back to crying about prayer in public schools or whatever other unconstitutional nonsense you want to impose on the citizenry. The Right has already won the abortion fight in many respects. Abortion access is already severely restricted, with some people having to drive hundreds of miles just to find the nearest clinic even willing to do it. And even in communities where there are multiple clinics, many doctors and healthcare providers have been intimidating out of doing it. Justice Kennedy’s departure might reverse Roe v Wade, but states that want to allow abortion will do so, and states that don’t will simply have the Court’s blessing to outlaw abortion outright rather than merely restricting access to all but a few patients. Again, let’s be clear: Justice Kennedy was a justice for the oligarchs. Progressives are not going to miss him. Progressives can do better than relying on a “moderate” voice of “reason” to protect us against an aspiring tyrant. Justice Kennedy’s departure now forces progressives to confront reality: the only way to stop this right wing putsch on America is to overwhelm them at the ballot box. No more half-ass participating in elections and expecting lawyers and judges to save our asses. Democracy doesn’t work that way. It dies that way. It’s dying now. There’s time to organize and vote against it. But time is running out. ---
**Author:** ![2ManyTacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/3da27b/32.png) [@2ManyTacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ManyTacos)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857/140 "2018-06-28T15:07:00Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > The Right has already won the abortion fight in many respects. Abortion access is already severely restricted, with some people having to drive hundreds of miles just to find the nearest clinic even willing to do it. And even in communities where there are multiple clinics, many doctors and healthcare providers have been intimidating out of doing it. Justice Kennedy’s departure might reverse Roe v Wade, but states that want to allow abortion will do so, and states that don’t will simply have the Court’s blessing to outlaw abortion outright rather than merely restricting access to all but a few patients. > > Again, let’s be clear: Justice Kennedy was a justice for the oligarchs. Progressives are not going to miss him. Progressives can do better than relying on a “moderate” voice of “reason” to protect us against an aspiring tyrant. Justice Kennedy’s departure now forces progressives to confront reality: the only way to stop this right wing putsch on America is to overwhelm them at the ballot box. No more half-ass participating in elections and expecting lawyers and judges to save our asses. Democracy doesn’t work that way. It dies that way. It’s dying now. There’s time to organize and vote against it. But time is running out. Well, they have to do what you say and, in time, pack the courts. When SCOTUS turns out to be an obvious toadie for the GOP during the next Dem administration, the addition of more SCOTUS seats will be the only available recourse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-kennedy-retiring/816857.md?page=8)