Why do you think Kennedy voted against ACA?

[GusFring]

Catholicism?

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. Ted Kennedy? He didn't vote on it at all because he'd been dead for four months.

(Both of Massachusetts' senators voted "yea" on the bill.)

[Firebrand Gary]

2. You're joking right?

[Spider Jerusalem]

4. Bill was passed by the Senate on 23 December 2009.

Ted Kennedy died 25 August 2009.

[Skittles]

6. HELLO

Not among those five votes was Anthony Kennedy. Here is a closing line of the dissent he signed, along with Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas: &quot W)e would find the Act invalid in its entirety."

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_breakfast_table/features/2012/_supreme_court_year_in_review/affordable_care_act_upheld_obamacare_survives_supreme_court_.html

[Spider Jerusalem]

7. Oh, him, don't know, don't care, doesn't matter because the majority voted to uphold.

He voted with Rehnquist more than any other justice, which should probably tell people something. His reputation as the swing vote on the court comes from the fact that he's voted for things SOCIAL conservatives dislike (gay rights, abortion rights) which are not properly conservative issues at all as much as they are religious nutcase issues. That a reliably conservative member of the court votes in a predictably conservative manner is no real surprise at all.

[CreekDog]

3. Fail. Kennedy didn't vote against it. Nobody should take you seriously

what a joke.

but i assume a jury and the MIRT will be taking a look at this nonsense.

[GusFring]

22. you need a drink or something. nt

[Marrah_G]

26. pstttttttttttttt

wrong kennedy

[CreekDog]

5. maybe you meant Anthony Kennedy, but what a total waste of an OP

Anthony Kennedy is a libertarian, by the way, apparently, that's the explanation.

he's also not a moderate, and voted conservatively in many cases, only O'Connor managed to get him to vote progressive here and there.

[Marrah_G]

24. ummm there is more then one kennedy in the country

he was talking about the USSCJ

[pnwmom]

9. Just general obnoxiousness. nt

[hlthe2b]

10. Why is everyone attacking the OP? Anthony Kennedy, (SCOTUS) is Catholic

and did, indeed, vote against ACA. Just because the first replying poster totally misinterpreted the question and apparently didn't know that SCOTUS justice Anthony Kennedy IS Catholic does not make the OP or the post invalid. For months the general consensus had been that if anyone was going to side with the Liberals, it would have been Anthony Kennedy.

I don't know the OP, but I am really damned tired of the frothing rabid gang behavior here--particularly when it is based on their own misreading of the post.

[Honeycombe8]

13. All the Kennedys are Cath., incl Teddy, Patrick, Joe, etc. Justice Kennedy didn't "vote"on ACA...

he made a decision on it, wrote an opinion on it, ruled on it.

[hlthe2b]

15. His decision was his vote. This entire thread has been made ugly & not by the poster.

[Honeycombe8]

18. That's because the OP wasn't clear. I really thought he meant a vote by Teddy Kennedy.

Communication skills are very important, if you want to, like, communicate.

Apparently other posters thought he meant a "vote" in Congress by a Congressional Kennedy.

[hlthe2b]

19. You misunderstood a perfectly valid question. Rather than asking if you had misunderstood & for

clarification, most on this thread proceeded to attack the OP--many because they themselves were ignorant that Kennedy was indeed Catholic, or that he was long anticipated to be the deciding vote with the Liberals on the SCOTUS. I think those who did so owe an apology. This trend of ganging up on a poster, rather than asking for clarification is damned ugly and making DU truly suck.

[Buns_of_Fire]

20. In yon times of yore, when you said "Kennedy," everyone could assume...

...it was either Jack, or Bobby, or Teddy, or one of the family. These days, not so much (even though I doubt anyone would mistake Peter King for Dr. Martin Luther King).

[JDPriestly]

33. So is Roberts. -- a Catholic. That is not the reason.

[hlthe2b]

34. I never said it was... The OP poster was attacked for merely asking the question by those who

"misunderstood" the OP to mean TED Kennedy & were determined to think he/she was intentionally disrupting. They apparently were themselves unaware that there is someone whose last name happens to be "Kennedy" on SCOTUS, who likewise is Catholic, and who just happens to have been the focus of all the anticipation with respect to the deciding vote-- in attacking the poster for his/her question. My post was asking why this abuse of the OP was appropriate. I dearly think those, who THEMSELVES misunderstood the OP's question and behaved in a very abusive/bullying manner, owe that poster an apology.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

37. I've noticed many DUers being smart asses lately and I don't know what's going on, but

rudeness seems to be common around these parts these days. The rudeness is uncalled for. We're on the same side, for godssakes!

[retread]

11. Another illustration of the destruction of public education.

[hlthe2b]

16. Unfortunately the OP could have been clearer, but it is not they who is showing willful

Last edited Mon Jul 2, 2012, 10:56 AM - Edit history (1)

distortion. The bullying on the part of those who have misunderstood the OP is just plain ugly.

[Marrah_G]

25. I agree

People should be deleting posts and saying sorry.

[retread]

36. My reply was intended for both.

[Honeycombe8]

12. Which Kennedy? Ted Kennedy? Justice Kennedy? Patrick Kennedy? nt

[NCTraveler]

31. Which one of those had a vote on the ACA recently. nt

[BumRushDaShow]

14. Both Roberts and Sotomayor are Catholics. n/t

[KharmaTrain]

17. Why Not Read His Disent And Find Out...

http://www.salon.com/2012/06/29/anthony_kennedy_joins_the_radicals/singleton/

Firstly...just cause his name is Kennedy that doesn't mean he's either a Democrat or Liberal...he's neither. He was appointed by Raygun and almost always sides with his rushpublican partisans on decisions now. He was against the concept of the Commerce clause and the overall concept of the government being a provider of healthcare...

[GusFring]

21. I made this thread at midnight and fell asleep. What the hell happened?

Im not talking about Ted.

For yrs the media has acted as if Kennedy is the voice of reason. But it sounded as if he wanted to strike down the whole law.

It just doesnt feel right to depend on Roberts.The court is a mess. Seemed like it was going to be 1 of those Bush v Gore decisions. Somehow I dont think this is 5-4 if a republican pres signed the law.

[BumRushDaShow]

23. Interestingly

Anthony Kennedy was dubbed as the "replacement swing vote" when Sandra Day O'Connor retired from the court and it seems that ever since Alito and Roberts came on board, he has almost always "swung" with the rest of the Conservatives (I think upwards of 90+% of the time). In a way, if O'Connor had still been there, I think she would have voted to uphold (and Roberts might have swung back to the right), just based on her past experiences with health issues.

[GusFring]

27. it just seems that any unbiased judge shound find the law legal. The thing went thru some

Conservative judges before reaching the SC and most found it legal. For 4 of the judges to vote against it is scary. I just think it was closer than it should have been.

[Drale]

28. Because he like most conservonuts

has begun to believe their own propaganda.

[goclark]

29. Welcome to DU

Sometimes this place is like a Boxing Ring ~

[Proud Liberal Dem]

30. I was surpised that he voted to strike down ACA

while Roberts upheld it under Congress' taxing authority. I guess Kennedy didn't buy that argument. The fact that CHIEF JUSTICE Roberts, a GEORGE W. BUSH APPOINTEE, upheld ACA is a BFD! It also makes it harder for the right to de-legitimize the ruling, not that it would have been any less valid constitutionally if it had been Kennedy as the swing vote but the fact that a right-wing justice like Roberts upheld the law makes the ruling look even less "partisan" IMHO.

[On the Road]

32. I'm Wondering Whether Bush v Gore

wasn't some kind of cognitive dissonance event for Kennedy -- after that he was less a swing vote and more a part of the conservative bloc. (Just a thought -- I don't know all the voting history since Dec 2000.)

One can only hope that the ACA decision will work the other way for Roberts.

[treestar]

35. Did he write an opinion?

Or concur in one? That will be where his reasoning is.

[Capt. Obvious]

38. He's dead Jim