http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/anthonykennedy/ en-us Fri, 4 Jul 2008 19:09:44 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040822/posts Kennedy is the court's most important swing vote and its worst justice. He expects the nation to bend to his moral whimsy. He said "You know, in any given year, we may make more important decisions than the legislative branch does - precluding foreign affairs, perhaps." He was wise to include the "perhaps," in light of the recent Guantanamo decision. He went on to note how judges need an "understanding that you have an opportunity to shape the destiny of the country." So much for country's destiny being shaped by a free people acting through their legislative institutions.On any politically... New York Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040822/posts#comment Fri, 4 Jul 2008 19:09:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040702/posts July 4, 2008 The Manifold Dangers of a Liberal Supreme Court Christopher AdamoAs far back as Sun Tzu, military strategists have well understood the concept that victory in war does not require the destruction of one's enemy, but merely convincing that enemy that destruction is inevitable if the fight continues. Similarly, in a dictatorship, absolute control is neither necessary nor, in most cases, even possible. All that is needed for the dictator to endure is the presumption among the underlings that the leader does indeed hold a monopoly of power. It is a point that Americans ought to seriously... Family Security Matters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040702/posts#comment Fri, 4 Jul 2008 13:49:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040402/posts When our rulers on the Supreme Court invalidated the State of Louisiana's death penalty for child rapists — in the case appropriately titled Kennedy v. Louisiana, decided June 25 — Justice Kennedy and the Court's liberal bloc insisted that the Eighth Amendment does not mean what it meant when it was adopted. Rather, the question of what is "cruel and unusual" punishment is answered by "the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society." Such gobbledygook is the mark of Left-liberal hauteur. In an arrested-development society, getting older is not necessarily maturing, and chronological maturation is... National Review Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040402/posts#comment Thu, 3 Jul 2008 20:07:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2039296/posts Our Worst Justice by Rich Lowry Why did the Founders bother toiling in the summer heat of Philadelphia in 1787 writing a Constitution when they could have relied on the consciences of Supreme Court justices like Anthony Kennedy instead? Kennedy is the Supreme Court's most important swing vote and its worst justice. Whatever else you think of them, a Justice Scalia or Ginsburg has a consistent judicial philosophy, while Kennedy expects the nation to bend to his moral whimsy. With apologies to Louis XIV, Kennedy might as well declare "la constitution, c'est moi!" In a 2005 interview, Kennedy said of... Townhall.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2039296/posts#comment Tue, 1 Jul 2008 17:55:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038243/posts Conservatives were, rightly, thrilled by the recent Supreme Court decision that affirmed our constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Not so fast. Of the four important decisions the court has rendered in this term, three of them have gone the wrong way. Let's first take a brief look at each of these four cases. Then let us examine Justice Anthony Kennedy's thinking in these cases. Kennedy was either the deciding "swing vote" or the determining factor in each one. The only case correctly decided was (1) District of Columbia v. Heller. Justice Scalia wrote the Heller decision, which holds... americanthinker.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038243/posts#comment Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:02:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2037198/posts In the United States today we no longer enjoy the rule of law but instead the rule of lawyers — robed lawyers with the exalted title "justice" — but still unelected lawyers enacting their own policy preferences. Before their commonsense decision in the Second Amendment case, a different complement of justices (Justice Anthony Kennedy siding with the liberals) demonstrated what a flimsy hold the words of the Constitution have on our jurisprudence. In fact, when you consider that the court is pretty well divided between four liberals and four conservatives with Justice Kennedy swinging from one side to another as... Creators.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2037198/posts#comment Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:27:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2031813/posts Don’t You Know There’s a War Going On? Jeffrey Imm I am sending U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy a framed copy of a photograph of the remains of the World Trade Center West building after the 9/11 attacks with a note "Don't You Know There's A War On?" The Real Headline: "U.S. Supreme Court Doesn't Think We Are At War with Jihad"On June 12, 2008, the majority on the Supreme Court ruled in "Boumediene v. Bush," that habeas corpus rights guaranteed to American citizens under the Constitution will be extended to foreign Jihadist enemy combatants currently held at the... Family Security Matters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2031813/posts#comment Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:52:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2030616/posts Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy arrives for a roundtable discussion titled 'Making Law Work for Everyone', Friday, June 13, 2008, at the Organization of American (OAS) in Washington. In writing for the court majority on the Supreme Court's decision on Guantanamo Bay on Thursday, Kennedy acknowledged the terrorism threat the country faces and the administration's justification for the detentions, but he declared, 'The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.' (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright arrive for a roundtable discussion titled 'Making... AP Via Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2030616/posts#comment Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:40:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1987791/posts WASHINGTON - Americans have a right to own guns, Supreme Court justices declared Tuesday in a historic and lively debate that could lead to the most significant interpretation of the Second Amendment since its ratification two centuries ago. Governments have a right to regulate those firearms, a majority of justices seemed to agree. But there was less apparent agreement on the case they were arguing: whether Washington's ban on handguns goes too far. The justices dug deeply into arguments on one of the Constitution's most hotly debated provisions as demonstrators shouted slogans outside. Guns are an American right, argued one... North County Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1987791/posts#comment Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:26:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1880811/posts SAN FRANCISCO - Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy painted a dismal picture of injustice and lack of opportunity in much of the world, then told lawyers Monday that they must do something. Kennedy used a ceremony in which the American Bar Association presented him its highest award to talk about the plight of rape victims who must pay a fee before they file a complaint, young girls used by their families to have sex with tourists, prisoners who develop gangrene because they get no medical care. "The rule of law and your own freedom are not secure unless you address... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1880811/posts#comment Tue, 14 Aug 2007 04:49:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1869445/posts Undoubtedly, the most significant aspect of the Supreme Court's April decision in Gonzales v. Carhart was that it narrowly upheld Congress' "partial-birth abortion" ban. That said, Justice Anthony Kennedy's opinion may affect America more for what it said about abortion than what it decreed about the law of abortion. The case appears to have opened up a new phase in abortion jurisprudence -- one in which abortion is largely permitted though disdained. This is not surprising, because Carhart represents the first recent occasion on which Kennedy set our national abortion policy. What may be surprising is how greatly both sides... politico.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1869445/posts#comment Sat, 21 Jul 2007 09:56:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1852373/posts WASHINGTON - Iraq remains chaotic and immigration overhaul faces an uncertain fate. But if President Bush wants to sing the old tune, “They can’t take that away from me” he can turn to the Supreme Court where his appointees Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito sit. As the high court nears the end of its 2006-2007 term, the impact of Bush’s appointees is becoming clearer. In high profile-decisions, Roberts and Alito have bolstered the conservative wing, which includes Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas and occasionally Justice Anthony Kennedy. Former Reagan administration Justice Department official Doug Kmiec,... MSNBC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1852373/posts#comment Mon, 18 Jun 2007 22:55:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1836880/posts The next U.S. president could reshape the Supreme Court, where the two oldest members are liberals and volatile decisions like abortion now hinge on a single swing vote. The possible sea change has already surfaced 18 months before the November 2008 election and could develop into a major campaign issue for Democrats who want to move the court to the left and Republicans who hope to plant it firmly in the conservative camp. The U.S. high court is now evenly split between conservative and liberal justices, who have been divided by 5-4 votes on abortion rights, the death penalty and... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1836880/posts#comment Sun, 20 May 2007 23:01:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1819860/posts The key to comprehending the Supreme Court's ruling today in Gonzales v. Carhart upholding the federal partial-birth abortion ban is a mastery not of constitutional law but of a literary type. Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion is less about the scope of abortion regulation than an announcement of an astonishing new test: Hereinafter, on the morally and legally thorny question of abortion, the proposed rule should be weighed against the gauzy sensitivities of that iconic literary creature: the Inconstant Female. Kennedy invokes The Woman Who Changed Her Mind not once, but twice today. His opinion is a love song to... Slate http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1819860/posts#comment Thu, 19 Apr 2007 08:19:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1748367/posts WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A justice who may cast the decisive vote on the closely divided U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sharply criticized using race to decide where students go to school. "You're characterizing each student by reason of the color of his or her skin," Justice Anthony Kennedy told a lawyer for one of two school districts arguing before the high court. "It seems to me that that should only be, if ever allowed, allowed as a last resort." The Supreme Court justices considered the two cases that could affect millions of students nationwide by deciding whether the U.S. Constitution's... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1748367/posts#comment Mon, 4 Dec 2006 21:24:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1737786/posts The Supreme Court on Monday moved to reinstate the death penalty for a California man convicted of murdering a 19-year-old woman during a burglary. Justices reversed an appeals court ruling that threw out Fernando Belmontes' death sentence because the trial judge misled jurors who were considering whether to give Belmontes the death penalty or life in prison. The 5-4 decision was the court's first since starting its new term in October. Justice Anthony Kennedy said it was implausible to conclude that jurors failed to take all the evidence into account before settling on a sentence of death. Belmontes beat Steacy... AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1737786/posts#comment Mon, 13 Nov 2006 15:57:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1735117/posts WASHINGTON, November 8, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Moments after the hearing of oral arguments in the partial-birth abortion case before the United States Supreme Court today, a pro-life lawyer involved in the case is predicting a "major victory". Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), said that he is convinced the ban on partial birth abortion will be ruled constitutional. The ACLJ has filed amicus briefs in both cases before the Supreme Court - including one on behalf of some 80 members of Congress - including the sponsors of the federal ban on the gruesome... LifeSiteNews http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1735117/posts#comment Wed, 8 Nov 2006 22:41:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1732783/posts Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life attorney says he thinks next week's hearing on a Congressional partial-birth abortion ban will lead to a vote that will ultimately hinge on Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy voted with the minority in upholding a Nebraska ban in a previous case but the pro-abortion justice's vote is never certain. His vote may also be less certain with the court's previous deciding vote in close cases -- Justice Sandra Day O'Connor -- now retired. The high court is slated to hear oral arguments in cases on Wednesday involving two of the federal challenges abortion advocates filed... Life News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1732783/posts#comment Sun, 5 Nov 2006 18:44:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1723918/posts When Anthony M. Kennedy takes his seat among the black-robed justices of the Supreme Court, his presence behind the raised mahogany bench is remarkably unremarkable. There is nothing of the buttoned-down manner of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the professorial mien of Ruth Bader Ginsburg or the biting wit of Antonin Scalia. Genial and unassuming, Justice Kennedy poses questions without any display of theatrics. Outside the courthouse, tourists have been known to enlist his help snapping photos, unaware that they are pressing a justice into service. Yet after 18 years on the court, at 70, Justice Kennedy has emerged... The Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1723918/posts#comment Sun, 22 Oct 2006 17:20:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1695978/posts U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, a moderate conservative and often decisive vote, was hospitalized for a stent procedure after experiencing mild chest pains, a court spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said Kennedy, 70, underwent "a routine procedure" at Washington Hospital Center on September 2. "This was a revision to a stent procedure performed in November 2005," she said in a brief statement. Arberg said there was no evidence of any heart damage. She said Kennedy was discharged from the hospital on Sunday morning and had returned to his duties at the court, which is currently in recess.... go.reuters.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1695978/posts#comment Tue, 5 Sep 2006 21:52:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1678696/posts Aug 6, 1:13 AM EDT Kennedy: Jury's Out on U.S. Democracy By MARK NIESSE Associated Press Writer HONOLULU (AP) -- The United States is not making the case for freedom, democracy and Western law to the rest of the world, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said Saturday. "Make no mistake, there's a jury that's out. In half the world, the verdict is not yet in. The commitment to accept the Western idea of democracy has not yet been made, and they are waiting for you to make the case," Kennedy said in an address to the American Bar Association. Kennedy,... The AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1678696/posts#comment Sun, 6 Aug 2006 15:23:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1671368/posts On July 1st, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) finished its term until October. The history books may refer to the present court as the “Roberts Court,” named so after current Chief Justice John Roberts, but many analysts are talking about Justice Kennedy. “It is impossible to overstate the importance of Justice Kennedy,” Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News told the audience at the Heritage Foundation last Thursday. A panel of journalists, including Mr. Stohr, Charles Lane of The Washington Post, and Stephen Henderson of McClatchy Newspapers, focused most of their remarks on “Justice Kennedy’s Hamlet moment,” as Mr.... Accuracy in Academia http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1671368/posts#comment Mon, 24 Jul 2006 17:44:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1662178/posts U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy ordered Friday that his temporary stay protecting the Mount Soledad cross extend until state and federal courts can hear the city of San Diego's appeal this fall. In blocking a federal judge's order that the city remove the cross by Aug. 1 or face a daily fine of $5,000, Kennedy also indicated that the full court may want to review the controversial case. Kennedy said the court, which refused three years ago to get involved in the dispute, may consider it because of two new factors favorable to cross proponents. He cited legislation to... San Diego Union - Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1662178/posts#comment Sat, 8 Jul 2006 03:03:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1659804/posts <p>WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court intervened Monday to save a large cross on city property in southern California.</p> <p>A lower court judge had ordered the city of San Diego to remove the cross or be fined $5,000 a day.</p> <p>Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, acting for the high court, issued a stay while supporters of the cross continue their legal fight.</p> AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1659804/posts#comment Mon, 3 Jul 2006 18:36:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1659187/posts President Bush finally got to reshape the Supreme Court during its just-completed 2005-06 term, appointing its first two new members in more than a decade. But he didn't have much immediate success in changing its direction. Bush's appointees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, lived up to expectations that they would ally with the court's conservative faction. The administration's hopes for a rightward shift on an already-conservative court were largely checked, however, by the pivotal figure of Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy's role was illustrated most dramatically Thursday, the final day of the court's term, when he joined a... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1659187/posts#comment Sun, 2 Jul 2006 04:58:25 GMT