I didn’t think those editorials were shockingly similar. Note, for example, that the NYTimes edit complains about the rejection of pragmatism, while the LATimes edit gently distances itself from pragmatism. I think the LA Times editorial was far and away superior to the NY Times, which tries to accomplish rather more than can be done with scary adjectives such as “far right” and “frightening.” Depending on the definitions of the terms the L.A. Times uses–such as “activist” and “strict constructionist”–I’d even go so far as to say that the L.A. Times’s editorial is basically correct.