Ex-Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy issued a stark warning about democracy in his memoir that was released on Tuesday, but the warning fell on deaf ears for two Democratic analysts.
David Sirota and Veronica Riccobene of The Lever pushed back against Kennedy's warnings in a new article on Tuesday, arguing that Kennedy's warning that democracy is not guaranteed to survive seemed to artfully forget his role in creating the crisis. Sirota and Riccobene cited the Citizens United decision, which stated that PAC donations "including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption."
"Democracy presumes an open, rational, thoughtful, decent discussion where you respect the dignity of the person with whom you disagree," Kennedy said in a recent interview with CBS News about his memoir. "And if it doesn’t have that, then democracy as we know it is in danger."
Sirota and Riccobene appeared to be skeptical of Kennedy's claims.
"In other words, he’s continuing to amplify the legal fiction — found nowhere in the Constitution — that corporations are entitled to the same free speech rights as human beings," Sirota and Riccobene wrote.
"Kennedy continues to assert that denying corporations the same speech rights as human beings would be a form of unacceptable persecution," they added.
"Kennedy’s admonition is his own version of the hot-dog guy meme — lamenting the democracy crisis while refusing to acknowledge his role in creating it," they continued.