The New York Times, which often trumpets its legacy of being the "Newspaper of Record" in the United States, is taking heat for its apparent lack of high-priority coverage to the assassination plot involving Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
According to various sources, the Times opted not to give major editorial attention to the Kavanaugh situation, in which a potential assassin (suspect Nicholas Roske, a California resident) was arrested outside a Supreme Court justice's house at 1:50 a.m. Wednesday, while reportedly brandishing a loaded gun.
U.S. Marshals assigned to protect Kavanaugh reported seeing Roske — who has since been formally charged with attempted murder — near Kavanaugh's home and stated that Roske made eye contact with them and then walked away.
CBS News noted that, according to court documents, Roske was upset about the leak of a recent Supreme Court draft decision to possibly overturn Roe v. Wade, and he feared Kavanaugh would vote to overturn gun laws.
In the end, no shots were fired at or outside the Kavanaugh home, and police officials were able to subdue the suspect before any serious incident occurred.
But that still doesn't excuse the Times' seemingly indifferent conduct with the story, at least when gauging a large handful of conservative responses on Twitter:
TownHall.com writer Guy Benson posted a tiny blurb from the Times, giving four full sentences to the Kavanaugh-Roske incident; and for the tweet, Benson wrote, "The news that's barely fit to print."
CNN analyst Mary Katherine Ham had a one-word response for the Times placing the Kavanaugh story on Page A20: Wow.
Conservative pundit Matt Whitlock offered a contrast between the Times' Kavanaugh coverage and what might become of tonight's House select committee hearing for the Jan. 6, 2021 unrest at the Capitol.
Whitlock tweeted, "Compare this to the front page coverage you're going to see of tonight's January 6th Committee TV performance in papers tomorrow morning."
Conservative podcast host Sagaar Enjeti wondered on social media, "If someone was arrested with the will to assassinate [justices] Sotomayor, RBG, etc we all know it would be the biggest story in the country. Their media diet, FB/Twitter likes etc would be endlessly scrutinized, and they would be calling for a new domestic terror law for the next 3 months."
And media reporter Isaac Schorr asked, perhaps rhetorically: "Anyone else think it's weird that the @nytimes not only consigned the Kavanaugh assassination attempt to page A20, but put it below 'New York A.G. Set to Question Three Trumps Under Oath' on that page?"
All this conservative-based criticism leads to the proverbial "shoe-on-the-other-foot" test.
As in, if one of the supposed left-leaning members of the Supreme Court — say Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Stephen Breyer, or Justice Elena Kagan — had been the planned victim of an assassination plot at their home residence, or anywhere else for that matter, would that story have garnered wall-to-wall national publicity, and by proxy, high-priority editorial placement with The New York Times?
The answer is most likely "yes."
Then President Trump-nominated Kavanaugh has been a Supreme Court justice for more than three years.
The recent rash of protesters outside Kavanaugh's home likely has something to do with Politico's May 2 publishing of a leaked initial majority draft opinion from Justice Samuel Alito, which could become the impetus for striking down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, circa 1973, when abortion became legal in the United States.
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