Justice Kennedy to Retire, Trump Can Solidify Court's Conservative Majority
The president is likely to nominate someone more conservative than Kennedy, a swing vote who has sometimes sided with liberals on key opinions, including on the landmark ruling that legalized gay marriage.
By Pete Williams
June 27, 2018 "Information Clearing House" - WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy announced Wednesday that he will retire at the end of next month, preparing the way for the most significant change in the court's makeup in half a century.
The vacancy will allow President Donald Trump to make the U.S. Supreme court a solidly conservative body for years, if not generations, to come — a towering legacy of his time in office.
Trump said Wednesday shortly after Kennedy's announcement that a search for his replacement would begin immediately and he thanked the justice for his service.
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he saw no reason why a new justice couldn't be confirmed before the midterm elections in November. McConnell himself said on the Senate floor that the vote to confirm Kennedy's successor would take place "this fall."
|
Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? |
The president has a list of 25 potential
Supreme Court nominees that the White House
has previously made public and Trump said
Kennedy's replacement would come from that
list.
"Hopefully we're going to pick someone who
will be as outstanding" as Kennedy, Trump
told reporters at the White House.
Kennedy's departure on July 31, which had
been rumored for the last year, could put in
doubt the future of a nationwide right of
access to abortion.
"Justice Kennedy was the most important
member of the court in a century, maybe
ever," said Tom Goldstein, a Washington
lawyer who argues frequently before the
court and publishes the SCOTUSblog web site.
Kennedy turns 82 in July and is the court's
second-oldest justice. Ruth Bader Ginsburg
is 85.
Since 2006, when moderate conservative
Sandra Day O'Connor left the court, Kennedy
has been the swing justice, often casting
the deciding vote in the most high-profile
cases.
Joining the court's four other
conservatives, he voted to gut the landmark
Voting Rights Act, allow corporations and
unions to spend unlimited funds to support
candidates and give new life to the Second
Amendment right to own a gun.
But he joined the liberals in banning
capital punishment for the youngest
offenders, declaring that prisoners at
Guantanamo Bay had a right to challenge
their detentions and limiting the powers of
the states to enforce their own tough
immigration laws.
He profoundly shaped the court's rulings on
gay rights, writing four of its most
important decisions, including the landmark
2015 ruling that struck down bans nationwide
on same-sex marriage.
"It's not just that he was the pivotal vote
so often. It's that his thinking changed the
country," Goldstein said. Gay rights is the
biggest example, but it's not the only one."
Replacing Kennedy will be the biggest change
in the court's alignment since 1969, when
two justices, Earl Warren and Abe Fortas,
announced their retirement within weeks of
each other.
Any nominee chosen by Trump is sure to be
more conservative than Kennedy. The
president would likely pick someone as
ideologically to the right as Neil Gorsuch,
who has voted with the court's other
conservatives in nearly every case since
taking his place on the bench just over a
year ago.
President Ronald Reagan nominated Kennedy, a
fellow Californian, in 1987 after the Senate
rejected Robert Bork as too rigid and after
a second nominee, Douglas Ginsburg, admitted
smoking marijuana.
At first a reliable conservative, Kennedy
soon broke away and voted to uphold the
court's 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion decision.
But 14 years later, he wrote the ruling that
approved a federal ban on so-called
partial-birth abortions.
A Trump-nominated successor to Kennedy would
likely become the court's fifth reliable
conservative, joining Chief Justice John
Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel
Alito and Gorsuch. Because only Thomas has
declared opposition to Roe v Wade, it's
uncertain whether opponents of abortion
would have the five votes needed to overturn
it.
At age 69, Kennedy had a stent placed in one
of his heart arteries, and underwent the
same procedure a year later. But neither
kept him off the golf course, and his health
has appeared sound.
A year ago, he told friends he was
considering stepping down, but he returned
to the bench last October for the start of
the current term. His departure will end
nearly 31 years of service on the Supreme
Court.
This article was originally published by "NBC News" -
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
======
Join the Discussion
It is not necessary for ICH readers to register before placing a comment. We ask that you treat others with respect. Take a moment to read the following - Comment Policy - What Or Who is Information Clearing House and Purpose and Intent of this website: It is unacceptable to slander, smear or engage in personal attacks on authors of articles posted on ICH. Those engaging in that behavior will be banned from the comment section.
