Ben Shapiro writes at the New York Post about Democrats’ over-the-top reaction to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement.
Democrats are in a state of sheer panic.
They’re panicking because last week, Justice Anthony Kennedy — a reliable vote in favor of certain leftist priorities including abortion and same-sex marriage — announced that he will step down from the Supreme Court, leaving President Trump a second selection. …
… The judicial branch was never meant to act as a superlegislature, using the verbiage of the Constitution in order to implement preferred policy prescriptions. …
… Yet according to the Democrats, the Supreme Court should exercise will instead of judgment. The role of the court, according to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, is to help expedite change in our society. …
… And that means that any reversal of such policy by a Supreme Court that actually reads the Constitution as it was written is a threat to Democratic hegemony. Were Trump to appoint an originalist to the Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade would surely die, but that wouldn’t make abortion illegal — the issue would have to be put before the American public. Affirmative action from state schools would end, but African-Americans wouldn’t be barred from attending elite institutions — such a bar would remain illegal. Gays across the country would not suddenly find themselves barred from public restaurants — it’s unlikely the Supreme Court would rule such action legal, and even if it were to do so, virtually no establishments across the country would start asking about sexual orientation at the door.
In the end, the Democrats’ obsession with the Supreme Court says more about them than about the role of the court.
