Kavanaugh: Bork or Kennedy?

As the United States mid-term elections loom, peruse Carl Sundell’s take on Robert Bork, who went through his own gruelling Kavanaugh-esdque process three decades ago, after being nominated to the Supreme Court by Ronald Reagan in what seem like the far more innocent days of 1987. Unlike Kavanaugh, whose bid recently survived a similar process, by a scant 2 votes, Bork was, as the quasi-official verb now has it, ‘borked’, his nomination rejected 58 to 50, largely due to the same reasons as Kavanaugh’s: The Democrat-liberals feared a reversal of their coveted right to abortion enshrined in the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.

They might have been right, for in Bork’s place the Senate approved unanimously (97 to 0) the subsequent Reagan appointee, Anthony Kennedy, who, far from overturning, reaffirmed in rather stark terms the right to abortion in the infamous 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision, wherein he was the ‘swing’ vote in a 5-4 tally. The following strange quotation from Kennedy’s ‘opinion’ will go down in disgrace as one of the many key points in what may turn out to be the downfall of America, if anyone is left to look back historically:

At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life…. people have organized intimate relationships and made choices that define their views of themselves and their places in society, in reliance on the availability of abortion in the event that contraception should fail…. We conclude the line should be drawn at viability, so that, before that time, the woman has a right to choose to terminate her pregnancy…. there is no line other than viability which is more workable. To be sure, as we have said, there may be some medical developments that affect the precise point of viability, but this is an imprecision within tolerable limits…. A husband has no enforceable right to require a wife to advise him before she exercises her personal choices.

This bizarre doctrine, demonstrating Kennedy’s (and so many others like him) tragic lack of philosophical and theological formation, and adherence to moral anarchy, would undermine all that we mean by ‘civilization’. It is ironic, for Bork was an atheist at the time of his proposed appointment, while Kennedy to this day professes to be a practising Catholic.

Odd also, for this opinion piece seems at odds with a phrase attributed to him a few months later, in October of that year:

We must never lose sight of the fact that the law has a moral foundation, and we must never fail to ask ourselves not only what the law is, but what the law should be.

The irony, even the hypocrisy, seems evident. Any ‘moral foundation’ worthy of the name would include prohibition of pre-born murder. Whose moral foundation is he considering? That of his near-namesake, Teddy Kennedy, also a self-professed Catholic, whose blistering critique of Senator Bork helped get him borked?

Alas, Ted Kennedy, the caddish coward of Chappaquiddick, has gone to whatever reward he merited, sent off after an eulogic Catholic funeral with all the fixings, where nary a word was spoken about the scandal he offered. We may just pray in our own quiet way that in some way unknown to us the Kennedy scion sought the mercy of God.

Here’s also hoping Justice Kennedy, whose retirement from the Supreme Court in the summer of this year left the space open for Brett Kavanaugh, uses his time to reflect upon his past decisions, to examine his conscience, before he has to face the Judge, to whom he, with us all, will have to give a rather severe reckoning.

As Professor Sundell points out, Bork soon after his ‘borking’ converted to Catholicism, helped along the way by his believing wife; he may have lost this seat on the court, but won his soul. Now we will wait and see whether Kavanaugh turns out to be another Kennedy, or the better, more noble, wise and prudent Supreme Court Justice that Bork might have been.

Carney’s Amoral Majority

After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→

Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress

This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→

Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk

(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]Continue reading→

A Tale of Two Benedicts

A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→

My Name is Bernadette

April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→

Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully

Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→

The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus

As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→

Divine Mercy Sunday – An Echo of Every Mass

Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe’…  ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jn. 20:18)). Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and as we celebrate the end of the Easter Octave, we contemplate the wounded side of our Saviour, the Church’s source of life. On Good Friday in the[…]Continue reading→

Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów

We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→

Saint Gemma Galgani

On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→