Particle.news
Download on the App Store
4 ARTICLES
·
3h ago

Kennedy Warns Partisanship Is Seeping Into Supreme Court, Decries Coarse Rhetoric

In an interview tied to his memoir, the 89-year-old warned that partisan rhetoric is eroding the court’s norms.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, 88, sits down for an interview with The Associated Press, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in his office at the Supreme Court in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
FILE - The Supreme Court in Washington, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy bemoaned the spike in vulgarity and partisanship in the U.S.

Overview

  • In a conversation with the Associated Press, Anthony Kennedy said justices must resist viewing themselves as partisan and cautioned that partisanship is creeping into the court.
  • He said the tone of some recent opinions worries him more than outcomes, criticizing rulings that attack colleagues rather than their reasoning.
  • Kennedy lamented coarse political discourse, citing vulgar remarks by members of Congress and President Trump’s intemperate language as harmful to the world’s view of U.S. democracy.
  • He expressed hope that his 2015 same-sex marriage ruling will stand as the Supreme Court considers Kim Davis’s appeal seeking to overturn Obergefell, warning that reversal would cause great hurt to families.
  • Ahead of next week’s release of Life, Law & Liberty from Simon & Schuster, he confirmed telling Trump in 2018, “Thank you for teaching young people to love America,” and said no one in the administration induced his retirement.