Ex-Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy Sounds Alarm On These 2 Threats To Democracy

Kennedy, who stepped down from the bench in 2018, issued a dire warning about "freedom" in his nearly 10-minute-long remarks at an event Thursday.

Former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on Thursday cautioned that contentious political debate alongside a spike in threats to judges are putting U.S. democracy “at risk.”

Kennedy — in nearly 10-minute-long remarks at an event for the nonpartisan group Speak Up for Justice — stressed a need for “dignified” discourse before noting that other countries look to the U.S. to see what democracy is and “ought to be.”

“And if they see a hostile, fractious discourse, if they see a discourse that uses identity politics rather than to talk about issues, democracy is at risk. Freedom is at risk,” said Kennedy, who was nominated to the court by Ronald Reagan and retired from the bench in 2018.

While Kennedy didn’t mention Donald Trump by name, his remarks come as the president has ramped up his attacks against judges over decisions he doesn’t like.

One of Trump’s recent diatribes led to a rare rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who knocked the president for calling for the impeachment of a federal judge who ruled against Trump’s deportation flights.