Anthony Kennedy is Retiring and The Left is Freaking Out
Anthony Kennedy has announced his retirement and the left is freaking out. Kennedy is seen as a swing vote who has sided with some pretty impactful left wing issues. But with his departure Trump has his second chance to nominate a supreme court justice.The left has responded in the obvious way, yelling and swearing, but the right has also responded in an obvious way, gloating.SUPPORT JOURNALISM. Become a patron athttp://www.patreon.com/TimcastSupport the show (http://timcast.com/donate)
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Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy has announced his retirement.
He is going to be leaving effective July 31st.
Naturally, the left is freaking out because they're concerned that abortion rights and gay marriage could get overturned.
if Donald Trump appoints a conservative justice to the Supreme Court.
This story is the perfect example of just how filthy, how absolutely disgusting politics in the United States is.
Because we have contradictory statements from Republicans, and we also have just absolutely awful, snide, mean-spirited comments from the left.
Everybody, can I give you some advice?
Man, you need to chill out.
I understand the stakes are hot, but this story really is bringing out the worst in everybody.
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First, a bit of the facts.
Anthony Kennedy retiring from the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy will step down at the end of July.
The departure gives President Trump a second opportunity to fundamentally alter the nation's top court for decades.
Senate Republicans plans to move quickly on appointing a successor as the two major parties fight for control of the Senate in November.
CNBC says his departure could have massive effects on U.S.
policy, particularly on abortion rights and gay rights nationwide.
His announcement immediately raised question about how long the court would stand by its earlier abortion rulings, including Roe v. Wade.
Replacing Kennedy with a conservative could have a massive long-term effect on the highest U.S.
court.
His decision to leave will have huge implications for the midterm elections, as Democrats and Republicans battle for control of the Senate, The chamber confirmed Supreme Court justices.
Kennedy was the second oldest member of the court.
The oldest Democrat, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is 85 and has been treated for pancreatic cancer.
The next oldest after Kennedy is another liberal, Stephen Breyer, who is 79.
Senate Republicans will try to fill Kennedy's seat before November.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday, McConnell blocked then-President Barack Obama's nominee to fill Scalia's seat.
Judge Merrick Garland clearing the way for Trump to nominate Gorsuch.
Kennedy is out.
And in my opinion, Republicans, you better be warned because this is going to heavily motivate Democrats for the midterm elections.
This is a huge threat to the left, so naturally I think it will be a huge motivating factor for them.
But Hearing the news, the results were rather obvious.
Look, Anthony Kennedy's 81 years old, and he said he wants to spend more time with his family.
I can respect that.
Do I think there's a timing issue?
Yeah, maybe, but what do you want the guy to do?
Do you want to go to an 81-year-old man and say, hey, hey, don't retire for our political objectives?
No, this is a guy who is considered a swing vote, right?
In which case, he's probably not going to play too hard to the left or the right.
And if you come to him and say, because of my politics, you should postpone your retirement, he's probably going to give you the finger.
Okay, probably not.
He seems like a classy guy.
I don't know him.
I don't know anything about him.
But, he's retiring.
He's old.
So let's take a look at what the left is saying following his announcement.
Ian Millheiser from ThinkProgress said, F you Justice Kennedy.
Very classy.
He's got 1,284 retweets.
Usman Ali, who is an award-winning actor, said, Justice Kennedy decides to leave a legacy of Muslim ban and peace out.
F him, but it's only going to get much worse.
Mara Wilson said, F you, Tony Kennedy.
Chris Hayes had a very partisan but much more classy response.
He said, 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.
14,000 retweets.
You've got a bunch of these blue checkmark Twitter accounts straight up saying, F. Anthony Kennedy.
And I just find that to be very disrespectful and, come on, that's not gonna solve anything.
Chris Hayes, what he's saying is just biased.
I really don't think Anthony Kennedy's sitting there laughing, twirling his mustache, saying, let's give this to Trump.
I think he's just a swing vote.
In which case, he's probably like, yeah, whatever.
I'm out.
The New York Times art section tweeted this out, from Seth Meyers.
You have a great job where you barely work, you get to wear a robe all day and give your opinions on stuff.
That basically is retirement.
Stick around at least until we get a new president six months tops.
And then the very unclassy version of the same thing.
Kennedy, you piece of S, sit in that chair till you die mother effer.
To all of the people who are saying F you Kennedy and telling him to keep working because you want him to support your politics, you don't want A nomination to come in before the midterms?
We don't know why he's retiring.
Anthony Kennedy is 81 years old.
As it was mentioned in the CNBC article, Ruth Bader Ginsburg's been treated for pancreatic cancer.
It's possible that maybe he's sick.
He's an old man.
I'm shocked that somebody is retiring.
Somebody that you actually think helped you in many ways, right?
They called him a swing vote.
They say it's important he stay.
And the response from so many people is to just start attacking and insulting him.
And that makes me feel bad.
And it makes me feel like, man, politics in the U.S.
is just so damn scummy.
But, I'm not gonna let the right off the hook here because Mitch McConnell is also a hypocrite.
Oh, do we have some tweets from Mitch McConnell back in 2016?
in 2016. First he said, the American people should have a voice in the
selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Hashtag Scalia. He tweeted
I will reiterate, the American people will have a voice in filling the SCOTUS vacancy.
Another tweet with a quote.
The next justice could dramatically change the direction of SCOTUS for decades.
court nomination must be put off until after the election campaign is over.
The next justice could dramatically change the direction of SCOTUS for decades.
The American people deserve a voice in that conversation."
Now a lot of people have said that the American people got their voice when they voted for
You know, the President appoints the Supreme Court Justice, and that's the voice they're talking about.
So, if they really don't believe that the midterms matter, that the confirmation doesn't matter, then that's fine.
I wouldn't call you a hypocrite.
But if you're one of those people that would take the opportunity to filibuster or jam up a nomination because it suits your political needs, then you are a hypocrite.
So which is it?
Do the midterms not matter?
I mean one of those quotes talked about an election cycle.
We're in one.
We just had the Democratic Socialists the other day take victory in a primary in New York.
So the elections are coming through.
The midterm is going to be this November.
Should we wait until after the midterm?
Or is it an opportunity for Trump to just Get in his nominee.
I think I know the answer to this question.
Of course the left is attacking Anthony Kennedy for retiring.
He's created an opening for Trump.
He's created an opening for conservatives.
So they're playing nasty.
Of course Mitch McConnell wants to confirm the Supreme Court justice before the midterm.
They all play dirty.
There's no consistency.
Politics is all hypocrisy.
And this is why I just absolutely don't care about most of it.
But I want to point out a few things about the left statement.
on Anthony Kennedy and the fact that he's a swing vote because
he's only sort of a swing vote. He's pretty much conservative already.
According to Wikipedia, Kennedy has reliably issued conservative rulings during most of his tenure,
having voted with William Rehnquist as often as any other justice
from 1992 to the end of the Rehnquist court in 2005.
In his first term on the court, Kennedy voted with Rehnquist 92% of the time more than any other justice.
In the 23 decisions in which the justices split 5-4, Kennedy was in the majority in all but 5.
Of those 23 decisions, 16 were strictly along ideological lines, and Kennedy joined the conservative wing of the court 11 times, the liberals 5.
So yes, technically he is a swing vote, but more than 60% of the time he's swinging conservative.
So yes, with this retirement, the left is going to be losing some of its power in the Supreme Court.
And if the Republicans confirm a new justice before the midterms, then it's likely going to be a conservative.
And this is going to have a dramatic impact on the country for the next several decades.
But keep in mind, we don't know what's going to happen in the midterms.
It's entirely possible the left doesn't do as well as they think they will.
And Trump's going to get his way no matter what.
You can't expect an 81-year-old man to postpone his retirement for the next six months or even the next several years simply because you need your politics supported.
But I want to say something else to all of the people on the right who are gloating, who are laughing it up.
A lot of these tweets I'm seeing are starting to sound just like the snooty elite left that got Donald Trump elected in the first place.
Obviously, I don't think it's the sole reason Donald Trump got elected.
But I do know a lot of people, when I traveled around on the campaign trail covering these stories, covering these events, so many people were just angry with this arrogant, snooty, leftist behavior.
This idea that Trump could never win.
And people were tired of the PC behavior, of the I'm right and you're wrong behavior, just this air of elitism.
There's that quote, reality has a liberal bias, which I believe came from Stephen Colbert.
And that's the kind of attitude that helped Donald Trump.
How many people want to sit around and listen to a snooty, I am very smart kind of person?
So don't be like that.
Because with this retirement, so many people on the right are starting to do the exact same thing.
They're gloating, they're laughing it up, but I'll tell you what.
There will be a reckoning for the right just as much as there will be for the left.
The Democrats are going to feel it right now.
New, young upstarts are coming to take over and pull out these incumbents.
There's a strong possibility we'll see more of that.
But when the right comes out and starts gloating about how they're winning and they can't help but win, well don't be surprised when this retirement from Anthony Kennedy triggers a massive blue wave.
Because all of these people on the left that are freaking out, that are cussing their minds out, are going to start riling up their friends and families to go and vote.
There's no guarantees.
The only guarantee is death and taxes and that politicians are... I'm not going to swear.
I was going to insult them.
But politics?
Dirty game.
We'll see what happens.
But the last thing I want to say is Keep your attitudes tempered, because you never know when you're gonna be on the back end of that loss.
So, comment below and let me know what you think.
How do you feel about the attitudes of everyone involved?
Do you think Mitch McConnell is a hypocrite, personally?
I do.
I do think he's a hypocrite.
But it's obviously just about gaining power.
Do I think he's standing up for principles?
Hell no.
I think the only reason he said the American people need a voice is because it gave him an opportunity to get the person he wanted in.
And now, he's ignoring all of that.
So, it's just the way politics is.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but I really do think we need to stand up for principles.
And I don't think... I think most of these people don't have any.
But again, comment below and let me know what you think, and we'll keep the conversation going.
