Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy won’t weigh in on Kavanaugh fight

As the Senate Judiciary Committee battled in Washington D.C., over whether Brett Kavanaugh should replace U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the retired jurist paid a low-key visit Friday to his hometown of Sacramento to discuss civil discourse to a group of high school students.

Kennedy, who spoke to students, judges and others at lunch Friday at the federal courthouse downtown, declined to comment on the wrenching battle over the nomination of Kavanaugh, a former Kennedy clerk.

“No, we’ve decided carefully not to comment,” he said as he toured the library and learning center in the courthouse that bears his name and is adorned with photos, knickknacks and memorabilia from his career in Sacramento and Washington.

Instead, as the crowd of reporters seeking comment grew throughout the morning, Kennedy politely steered questions toward topics such as the state of media in Sacramento, the Sacramento Unity Center championed by Mayor Darrell Steinberg and former television news anchors he watched.

Even requests to provide a broad outlook on the court and the confirmation process were waved off.

Instead, Kennedy devoted his remarks to the students about the importance of knowing the Constitution and protecting it.

“The Constitution doesn’t belong to a bunch of judges and lawyers,” he told the students and others in brief morning remarks. “It’s yours, and since it’s yours you have to protect it. And you can’t protect what you don’t understand.”

At lunch, he continued that theme, and voiced concerns about democracy slipping away in portions of Africa, the Middle East and in Venezuela.

“We can’t let this happen,” Kennedy told the group. “We can’t let this happen because the whole idea of democracy is it protects freedom.”

Kennedy’s visit was part of a Constitution Day event at which students from Rio Americano and C.K. McClatchy high schools in Sacramento and Savanna High School in Anaheim were gathering for a day of civics lessons and a tour of the Unity Center, the Capitol, the 3rd District Court of Appeal and the California State Railroad Museum.

Kavanaugh, 53, clerked for Kennedy on the high court in 1993.

However the fight over Kavanaugh’s nomination turns out, the final vote undoubtedly will differ greatly from the Senate’s eventual vote on Kennedy, which confirmed him 97-0.

This story was originally published September 28, 2018 at 12:12 PM.