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Former U.S. Supreme Court Judge Anthony Kennedy warned on Thursday that tensions in political discourse and threats to judges undermined their ability to serve as examples of freedom and democracy around the world.
Kennedy, a Reagan appointee who retired in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term, spoke on a virtual forum about the threat to the rule of law as he defended the role of judges in democracy and advocated the need to protect them and their families from threats.
“Many people around the world are looking at the United States to see what democracy is and see what democracy should be,” Kennedy said at a “speak for the Judiciary” event, a day before the current Supreme Court judiciary will rule its final ruling for its current term.
“If they see hostile and strange discourse, then when they see discourses that use identity politics rather than talking about issues, democracy is at risk. Freedom is at risk,” he continued.
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Former US Supreme Court judge Anthony Kennedy warned that “tone of our political discourse” and threats to judges are injuring the United States’ ability to serve as an example of freedom around the world. (Getty Images)
Kennedy did not mention Trump, despite other participants expressing concerns about the barrage of threats and attacks against judges over blocking key parts of the president’s political agenda during his second term, including his immigration policies, firing federal workers and implementing broad tariffs.
However, Kennedy’s statements appeared to have been sparked, at least in part, by repeated attacks by the Trump administration on judges he controlled, including those he appointed for his first term.
In March, Trump criticized U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg as “a radical left-handed man” and called for his blast each after attempting to stop the administration from removing members of Venezuelan gangs from the United States under alien enemy laws.
Last month, Trump attacked a judge who “hate America” as “a monster who wants to go to hell in our country.”
According to politics, Trump’s rhetoric came along with an increase in threats to judges, but a government spokesperson said the president is against any threat and faces prosecution from the Justice Department.
Reagan’s appointee, Kennedy, defended the role of judges in democracy and advocated the need to protect them and their families from threats. (Getty Images)
Kennedy said “Judges must protect themselves and their families,” and “judices are best protected when our people and our nation recognize that they are at the heart of our discourse.”
“We should be concerned in this country about the tone of our political discourse, as I have already shown,” he said. “The politics of identity is used so that a person is characterized by his or her partisan affiliation. It is not the purpose of democracy and civic discourse.”
Other participants in the forum featured judges from other countries who warned about how attacks on the US and courts could threaten democracy, and were targeted by Trump’s statements denounced the courts.
Without mentioning Trump by name, US District Judge Estelle Salas said his son was killed by a disgruntled lawyer who went to his New Jersey home in 2020, and that misinformation about the judge has spread “top-down.”
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Kennedy’s comments appeared to have been sparked, at least in part, by repeated attacks by the Trump administration on the judges who controlled him. (Getty Images)
“The judges are fraudulent. Are you familiar? The judges are corrupt. Does it sound familiar? The judges are monsters. The judges hate America,” Saras said. “We’re watching the spread of disinformation coming from below.”
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Salas warned that the number of threats recorded to judges this year has reached historic US heights, noting that former US s-services have been tracking more than 400 threats to judges since January when Trump took office.
“We’re going to break the record, not in a good way,” she said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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