Fox News host Megyn Kelly recently criticized MSNBC pundit Rachel Maddow for calling Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia “a troll” on Friday.
Currently, the Supreme Court is considering the Voting Rights Act, specifically Section 5 , the constitutionality of which has been called into question. The Huffington Post reports that Section 5 requires the federal government to approve of any voting system changes in certain areas with a history of racial discrimination in elections.
Scalia has argued against Section 5, saying that it represents a “perpetuation of racial entitlement.” For his arguments, Maddow called him “a troll” on the Thursday episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
During Friday’s America Live , Kelly responded to Maddow’s comments, saying:
“This has led to a lot of criticism of Justice Scalia including one liberal commentator calling him ‘a troll.” As somebody who covered the high court for three years and practiced law for nine, I personally object to that kind of language against the Supreme Court justice. I don’t think it does anybody any good. I think they vote their consciences up there whether they’re left or right.”
This isn’t the first time Kelly and Maddow have clashed. In 2011, Kelly presented a question to her Twitter followers for”Kelly’s Court,” a legal feature during her Fox News program. The subject was a man beat a 100-pound woman into a coma, and argued that she deserved it. Kelly asked whether or not the man was “right.”
An incredulous Maddow responded:
“That’s a great question, Megyn Kelly, and Happy International Women’s Day to you as well,” she snarked, though noting that in the end, Kelly came in on the side of the beaten woman.
Maddow herself has made news recently for the type of commentary illustrated above, in which she leads with criticism, and then adds context which possibly renders the criticism moot.
For example, in February, Maddow played a clip of Senator John McCain which was selectively edited in an attempt to smear the Republican politician. She admitted immediately that the footage was “maybe” edited “in a way that’s not fair” to McCain. Indeed, as Newsbusters noted, the full tape told a different story.
Watch the video of Megyn Kelly’s scolding response to Rachel Maddow below, via Mediaite :
