I’ve often thought that Anthony Kennedy’s manifest compassion for juvenile offenders is one of his most admirable traits. I wouldn’t exactly call myself an admirer of his jurisprudence in general, but there are some decent themes in there, and we have him largely to thank for taking us from being a country where kids were executed to one where they can’t even be given live in prison. There are some other streaks of decency in his record too, with respect to gay rights, and in some environmental cases. He’s conservative, but with some redeeming attributes. We’ll see how much that compassion manifests itself in ruling over the ACA, but it certainly stands out in comparison to, say, Scalia, who gives every appearance of being a bitter revanchist.

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