The Roberts Court is really the Kennedy Court

You never know which way Justice Anthony Kennedy will swing on an issue until he finally does, says Rich Lowry in this critique of the renegade who doesn’t seem to follow a discernible path.

Kennedy is the Supreme Court’s most important swing vote and its worst justice. Whatever else you think of them, a Justice Scalia or Ginsburg has a consistent judicial philosophy, while Kennedy expects the nation to bend to his moral whimsy.

Critics say he “makes it up as he goes along.” Not an idle criticism. Consider the examples Lowry presents in this piece.

Here’s one:

The signature of a Kennedy opinion is vaporous moralizing, whatever side he comes down on. In the 1992 Casey decision upholding Roe v. Wade, he waxed poetic about “the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of life.” In the 2007 Carhart decision upholding the partial-birth abortion ban, he waxed again, this time about “respect for human life find[ing] an ultimate expression in the bond of love the mother has for her child.”

His inconsistencies have led to his swing fame.

But so it goes, as long as the Supreme Court is divided between four liberals, four conservatives and one self-important man who can’t differentiate between his inner compass and the nation’s fundamental law.

The power to shape this court for the long-term future is the most important reason to vote in the November election. And carefully.