Justice Kennedy Frustrated Over Story on Dalton Speech Dustup

[WSJ Law Blog]

Last week, the NYT ran an article on its front page on a dustup that took place following a speech Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy gave at New York’s Dalton School on Oct. 28.

Shortly after Kennedy’s speech, the student newspaper ran a note saying that “numerous publication constraints” had delayed the article on the talk. The NYT reported that Kennedy’s office had barred the student paper from publishing an article without its approval.

The article, and its resulting play in the blogosphere, didn’t reflect well on Justice Kennedy. The story flashed across the Internet, prompting editorial writers and bloggers to brand Justice Kennedy, for years one of the court’s strongest free-speech advocates, a hypocrite.

On Tuesday, Justice Kennedy talked to the WSJ’s Supreme Court correspondent, Jess Bravin, about the incident, saying he was frustrated by the criticism of his response to the school newspaper’s coverage and calling it a misunderstanding that spiraled out of control. Click here for the WSJ story.

In the interview, Justice Kennedy said he never asked to clear the copy before publication. He said the request came from a new employee who misunderstood his longtime rule for classroom visits: no outside media, but campus press is welcome to cover his appearances. As “the captain of the ship,” he added, he accepts responsibility for requests made in his name.

The experience upset Justice Kennedy, who for decades has taught in law schools and lectured at colleges and grade schools.

“My relatives call me from California, my family is all upset, and other people are calling me,” he said. “What a stupid story,” he said. “After 40 years of teaching, the only time it’s mentioned is that I have a double standard, which is just not true.”

The writer of the story, Supreme Court reporter Adam Liptak, declined to comment.

Justice Kennedy didn’t dispute the technical accuracy of the New York Times story, which attributed the rule to “Justice Kennedy’s office” rather than the justice himself. He said he understood why the matter got such wide play.

Still, he said he’s not sure about his own policy that excludes the outside press while admitting student reporters.

“If you tell the press . . . that they can’t come, and the school press does it anyway, is that fair? I just don’t know how to handle that. But I’ve never told the school press they can’t cover it, because it is kind of an event for their school,” he says.

See related articles: Kennedy Frustrated Over School-Press Flap; Justice Kennedy’s Day of Misunderstanding

Photo: Getty Images