America’s Founding Fathers intended, planned and hoped for a U.S. Supreme Court that will be the impartial arbiter of any constitutional question or disagreements between the people, represented individually, by Congress or the President.  That is true impartial justice. Not the political justice the federal district and state local benches have become. Magnified today by the resignation of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Justice Kennedy was appointed to the Supreme Court by fellow Californian, President Reagan, in 1987.  Kennedy was the last justice of the court to be seated with a unanimous Senate vote, a voting experience his successor will not share. Like Reagan, he was not a true reliable conservative as defined in today’s political world. He voted with the liberal majority of the court about 51 times in closely divided politically driven cases. He has been a critical Constitutional swinger for justice.
There are two issues I have been outspoken about that Kennedy was the crucial vote — one of which I respect and agree with and the other I profusely disagree— his decisions to preserve a woman’s right about abortion in Roe v. Wade and his decision in Citizens United that defines corporations and unions as people and allows them to donate unlimited amounts to political campaigns respectively.
Kennedy’s appointed successor, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, his former law clerk, judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and former prosecutor for independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr investigating President Bill Clinton — who at the time believed a sitting president can be impeached for lying to his staff, misleading the public and obstructing justice — has since changed his mind, is in for a partisan fight that has become the dominant theme of the midterm elections. An ugly political fight America’s Founding Fathers would disdain — and probably revolt again.
The Supreme Court has become partisan and will become even more so as the Republicans fight to get Trump’s conservative nominee approved. President Trump is the first Republican president to get his judicial nominees confirmed by a simple majority vote, because of the abolition of the Senate filibuster rule as he delivers on his promise to appoint judges to the Supreme Court from the list he gave the Federalist Society during the 2016 election to get the conservatives in the Republican Party, who were skeptical of his politics and candidacy, to support him. A critical factor in his election. Conservative payback time.
Senate Democrats argue Kennedy’s replacement shouldn’t be announced or voted on until 2019 when the new Senate is sworn in, a replay from the Republican playbook of 2016, when Republicans refused to even consider President Obama’s nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, on the ground that the new president should do so.
Both the Republicans in 2016 and the Democrats today are wrong in their arguments to delay the Supreme Court nominee. The Founding Fathers intended the incumbent president to fill any Supreme Court vacancies. Not his successor or new potential Senators after a midterm election. That is true non-partisan justice — then, over the centuries — and now!
The confirmation showdown is going to be a political thriller that will energize both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and voters at large to fight the American way. Get out and vote. A subject I have written about extensively in my Custom Maid for New World Disorder trilogy and advocate in my columns, media interviews, book talks and blogs.
The Kennedy Supreme Court vacancy is hopefully the wakeup call America needs to understand and appreciate the importance of voting. The upcoming midterm elections will tell.
Although the Republicans hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate, with Republican John McCain being absent with cancer and unlikely to vote, Republican Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Bob Corker and John Flake’s votes being in question, but counter-balanced by 10 Democratic Senate candidates running for re-election in states carried by Trump, anything goes this midterm election and confirmation hearings.
Hopefully, non-partisan political justice shall prevail even with the next one or more Trump nominees to the Supreme Court! Doubtful! The conservative deck is locked and loaded for now.