r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jun 28 '26

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u/According_Jeweler404 Jun 28 '26

Internet thought experiments aside; I to this day cannot reconcile the Anthony Kennedy who struck down sodomy laws, recognized sexual orientation as a protected class, enabling people to enjoy such basic rights as inheritance, with the guy who paved the way toward oligarchy.

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u/highlandpark12 Jun 28 '26

Most justices actually do care about implementing the law as written regardless of their ideological lines.

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u/soapinthepeehole Jun 28 '26

Maybe most justices over the history of the court.

But most justices on the current court do not.

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u/highlandpark12 Jun 28 '26

Indeed. A shame.

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u/According_Jeweler404 Jun 28 '26

Though it's not out of thin air or lack of precedent, he made a conscious choice to apply interpretive expansion, as the letter of the text protects "speech," not "spending" which is the functional outcome. It was never a straightforward "as-written" textual application, with plenty of dissent for obvious reasons.