Her latest column in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is, "Court's end-term decisions are mixed."
The Supreme Court’s decisions in recent weeks have casual observers scratching their heads trying to figure out the ideological bent of this bench.
The focus of those mental gymnastics can be narrowed down to one justice: Anthony Kennedy. He’s the new Sandra Day O’Connor.
In the last three weeks of the high court’s 2007-2008 term, Kennedy’s swing from right to left and back made the difference in four cases.
And:
Reagan then turned to Kennedy. When Reagan was the governor of California, he got to know Kennedy, who was running a law firm in the state’s capital of Sacramento and handled legal work for members of Reagan’s staff. President Gerald Ford appointed Kennedy to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1975 largely on recommendations from Reagan supporters. On a court packed with liberal judges, Kennedy rose as the leader of the conservative minority with his thoughtful and balanced opinions.
At age 38, he was the youngest federal appeals judge in the country.
Kennedy skated through his Dec. 14-16, 1987, Supreme Court confirmation hearings and garnered a 97-0 vote. He’s been on the high court for 20 years, often confounding conservatives by what they view as decidedly unconservative opinions.
Kennedy, for example, joined the opinion of Justice William J. Brennan Jr., in Texas v. Johnson (1989), which held flag burning is symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment. It must be noted that Justice Antonin Scalia also was in the majority in that case.
And therein lies the Forrest Gump lesson to be learned from the Supreme Court.
Similar to not knowing what’s inside a box of chocolates until you take out a piece and bite into it, trying to predict court opinions based on ideological labels can often end up with a mouthful of surprise.
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