From Daniel Henninger at The Wall Street Journal, Kavanaugh and the Culture Wars : (paywall)

It would be good for the country’s stability if a Kavanaugh Court disincentivized the left from using the courts to push the far edges of the social envelope. This is not about turning back the clock. It is about how best to resolve bitter social and cultural disputes in the future. It is about no longer using the courts to make triumphal moral claims against the majority.

In the Kavanaugh Court, extending rights claims beyond their already elastic status is going to require more rigor than appeals to a judge’s personal sensibilities or a theory of social organization developed in law journals.

Advocates for social change involving race, gender, identity and such will have to convince representative majorities, elected by voters, to agree with their point of view. Unlike in the past four decades, the high court will more often weigh in after, not before, the political process has happened.

HKO

The left approves of an activist judge only if the activism leans in their direction.  How much will they embrace the concept of a living constitution, if this becomes the judgment of justices made by Donald Trump.  This may explain how positions shift over time.  With their worst nightmare selecting justices the left may move more towards less judicial activism and less power in the hands of a single court.

As we have seen with the elimination of the filibuster by Harry Reid, sacrificing the means to the end is a short sighted strategy and creates tools that will be used against you. No matter how noble the ends the means still matter.

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