From WNYC in New York, this is on the media. I'm Brooke Ladstone.

And I'm Bob Garfield. This past week was, as NPR's Supreme Court correspondent, Nina Totenberg, tweeted,

quote, the end of the world as we know it. Justice Anthony Kennedy, for years the ideological center of the high court,

and occasionally its high-profile swing voter, informed President Trump of his decision to retire.

For progressives, it was clear. The center would no longer hold.

In 1992, Anthony Kennedy's vote saved Roe versus Wade.

You could have more restrictions on voting rights claims, employment discrimination claims.

Everything to do with women's rights, having to do with gay rights,

having to do with solidifying the pro-corporate anti-worker wing of the Supreme Court.

What happened to separation of powers?

What happened to checks and balances in this country?

Gone. Gone.

Some noted that Justice Kennedy's reputation as defender of liberalism and civil rights was

rather overstated.

His vote did determine the decision to legalize same-sex

marriage, but it also clinched the decision to subject our elections to unprecedented corporate

influence, that is, Citizens United. Another historic Kennedy call, his concurring opinion this

past week, in Trump v. Hawaii.

It is a 5-4 decision authored by the Chief Justice John Roberts.

He says the proclamation, that's Travel Ban 3.0, is squarely within the scope of presidential

authority under the INA.

Yes, he stood with his conservative colleagues.

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