Actually, Kennedy wasn't so bad -- not nearly as bad as Suter, who I would characterize as a disaster. The fact that Kennedy is resigning now indicates to me that he is extremely aware of the activism on the court -- especially since he has had to deal with so much of it coming from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (where LIBs bring everything). Kennedy supervises the 9th Circuit. Kennedy wanted Trump to appoint his replacement. That is excellent.tamada wrote: ↑July 2, 2018, 2:05 pmSince the Reagan-appointed Justice Kennedy never appeared to be "originalist" or constitutionalist enough, what measures could realistically be taken to ensure that others appointed under Trumps hegemony will not end up being similarly flexible, forward-thinking, accepting of contradictory opinion, willing to ignore partisan divides and in general not ride roughshod over the will of maybe half of the people? Especially "decades" after Trump has left the building?
Nothing is a sure thing in many areas of life, and the same holds true for selecting justices to the Supreme Court; but it's the nature of the beast for Republicans who pick originalists/constitutionalists. I don't recall any Democrat appointee EVER having an attack of constitutionality, and I would bet money that any two appointees to the SCOTUS (or any other federal court bench) by Hillary the Hag would make the court so far left that there would be no United States by 2025.
In summary, I'd much rather Trump make this choice than anyone else -- and take my chances.
I wouldn't even trust Loser McRomney or Loser McCain to select a constitutionalist (I didn't vote for either one. They both ran horrible campaigns, were afraid of their own shadows and weren't willing to fight for us or for the job.). They'd both be so willing to fall in line with LIBs/PROGs -- as they do on so many issues that frighten them -- they would probably agree to appoint Garland so that Democrats can feel better about everything.
There should be no Left and Right on the court. An orginalist/constitutionalist is not the Right. The Constitution is Dead-Center-American. Anyone who makes up sh*t and tries to get their agenda "to fit" in some crazy places (like RGB and Soto) doesn't belong on the court.