Supreme Court Justice Travel Watch: Sandra Day O’Connor, Anthony Kennedy

Travel Blog  •  Michael Yessis  •  09.29.05 | 4:06 AM ET

It seems that at least two of the current Supremes love to travel. Soon-to-be-retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor told Associated Press reporter Gina Holland Wednesday that, once Congress confirms her replacement, she’s looking forward to working on book projects and traveling. “Just to see friends and take a trip or two would be nice,” said the 24-year-veteran of the court. Earlier this month, The New Yorker’s Jeffrey Toobin profiled one of O’Connor’s colleagues, Anthony Kennedy. Toobin met up with Kennedy in Salzburg, Austria where the Justice has rented an apartment for the last 15 summers with his wife, Mary.

One of the points of Toobin’s story: Kennedy’s travels, teaching engagements and mingling with international judges have exposed him to foreign law, which he sometimes cites in his opinions. “Kennedy has a passion for foreign cultures and ideas,” Toobin writes, “and, as a Justice, he has turned it into a principle of jurisprudence.” The practice of “legal multiculturalism,” has been slammed by, among others, newly indicted former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. He said:

“We’ve got Justice Kennedy writing decisions based upon international law, not the Constitution of the United States. That’s just outrageous, and, not only that, he said in session that he does his own research on the Internet. That is just incredibly outrageous.”

Toobin asked Kennedy about the attack, and the Justice had a great reply: 

When I asked Kennedy about DeLay’s comments, he smiled and replied evenly, “The nature of the United States is that we’re diverse.” But a few weeks earlier, near the end of the Court’s term, in June, Kennedy had given a more pointed retort. For a reunion of Chief Justice Rehnquist’s law clerks, he made a brief video, during which he was taped sitting at his computer. He said that he was doing a little research. He signed off by saying goodbye in several languages.

Tags: North America, United States, News and Briefs


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