Quote:WASHINGTON (AP) — Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said Wednesday he was troubled that partisanship seemed to be “creeping its way into the court,” and that the state of political discourse in the country has gotten so vulgar and vile that he worries for the country.
The tone of recent opinions bothers him more than outcomes of cases, Kennedy said in an interview with The Associated Press in his court office in advance of next week’s publication of his memoir, “ Life, Law & Liberty.”
“The justices have to resist thinking of themselves as being partisan,” he said. “In our current discourse, it seems to me, partisanship is creeping its way into the court.”
He declined to identify any justices or opinions, but at another point he returned to the personal nature of some court opinions.
“Of course, when you disagree, you criticize the other, but you criticize the opinion and the reasoning. You don’t criticize the author,” he said during the nearly hourlong interview. “And that point seems to be eclipsed. Some of the recent opinions are attacks on your colleagues, on the judges. I was astounded, very worried about it.” From members of Congress who use “ the four-letter F-word ” in public to President Donald Trump, Kennedy said he is routinely put off by what he is hearing.
“Concerned. Worried. Disappointed with,” Kennedy said. “The rest of the world looks to us to see how free speech works, how democracy works, and in many respects they will not be impressed by what they see,” he said. ”I think our high officials ought to elevate the content and elegance of our discourse.” With the nation’s 250th birthday approaching next year, the 89-year-old Kennedy cast a baleful eye at the future. “What about the next 250? I’m not so sure. I’m not so sure,” he said.
https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court...3e735188c1
