Here Comes the Judge

With two strikes against him, President Reagan decided to play it safe: he nominated Anthony Kennedy, a so-called moderate conservative, to fill the vacancy created by Justice Lewis Powell’s resignation last July.

Conservatives are understandably uneasy about a nominee voted Most Easy to Confirm. And Kennedy’s nomination has gathered some peculiar accolades, including one from Laurence Tribe, the Democrats’ pet constitutional scholar. In public, most anti-Bork groups are taking a wait-and-see attitude, but off the record they display a suspicious lack of venom toward the new nominee. “Kennedy is non-ideological,” an ACLU staffer told me in explaining why the ACLU may well watch this fight from the sidelines. “Even though he rules against us a lot. He has a much greater respect for precedent [than Bork] and he doesn’t subscribe to the original-intent scheme for voiding rights.” “I don’t have the impression he’s an ideologue like Bork,” agreed a lobbyist for Planned Parenthood.

About the Author

Maggie Gallagher

Maggie Gallagher is the author of four books on marriage and is a longtime contributor to National Review.

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With two strikes against him, President Reagan decided to play it safe: he nominated Anthony Kennedy, a so-called moderate conservative, to fill the vacancy created by Justice Lewis Powell’s resignation last July.

Conservatives are understandably uneasy about a nominee voted Most Easy to Confirm. And Kennedy’s nomination has gathered some peculiar accolades, including one from Laurence Tribe, the Democrats’ pet constitutional scholar. In public, most anti-Bork groups are taking a wait-and-see attitude, but off the record they display a suspicious lack of venom toward the new nominee. “Kennedy is non-ideological,” an ACLU staffer told me in explaining why the ACLU may well watch this fight from the sidelines. “Even though he rules against us a lot. He has a much greater respect for precedent [than Bork] and he doesn’t subscribe to the original-intent scheme for voiding rights.” “I don’t have the impression he’s an ideologue like Bork,” agreed a lobbyist for Planned Parenthood.