Anthony Kennedy to announce search for the real partisans

Anthony Kennedy is trying to find the guy who did this:

In an interview with NPR to be aired in October, Kennedy said that he is “very worried” about America today.

“We live in an era where reasoned, thoughtful, rational, respectful discourse has been replaced by antagonistic, confrontational conversation,” he said, adding that “Democracy is not guaranteed to survive.”

Indeed, he says that he is worried even about the tone of some Supreme Court opinions.

“It seems to me the idea of partisanship is becoming much more prevalent and more bitter,” he said. “And my concern is that the court in its own opinions…has to be asked to moderate and become much more respectful.”

When he retired from the court in 2018, Kennedy told a small group of journalists that he was confident that the court’s major decisions would remain intact. But when I asked him if he still thinks that is true, he demurred.

Guy who handed a Supreme Court seat to Donald Trump and Brett Kavanaugh after he joined (inter many alia) Shelby County: “I am fearful for the threat to American democracy and concerned that my landmark non-reactionary opinions may not survive” your fingerprints are on the knife my man!

While we’re playing “pull my finger” with Supreme Court justices:

Justice Amy Coney Barrett tried to turn down the temperature after a series of rulings in favor of President Donald Trump ginned up claims of bias for the Republican White House.

“I want people to understand, agree or disagree with the decisions that the court reaches, that we are engaged in a legal enterprise,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, said during a legal conference in D.C. on Thursday.

[Simon Baker in Margin Call voice] I’m not sure that I do understand that.

Anyway, one problem with trying to claim that your robotically pro-Trump decisions are part of a “legal enterprise” is when your important actions frequently entail not even the form of law.