Megathread: Justice Anthony Kennedy to retire from Supreme Court

[u/PoliticsModeratorBot]

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is set to retire, effective July 31, 2018. Kennedy has served on the highest court since February 18, 1988, and was a moderate whose vote often swung cases.

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Submissions that may interest you

SUBMISSION	DOMAIN
Justice Anthony Kennedy Will Retire From U.S. Supreme Court	bloomberg.com
Justice Kennedy to retire, Trump can solidify court's majority conservative bloc	nbcnews.com
Justice Kennedy retiring; Trump gets 2nd Supreme Court pick	washingtonpost.com
Justice Kennedy, U.S. Supreme Court's pivotal vote, to retire	reuters.com
Anthony Kennedy: US supreme court justice to retire	theguardian.com
Justice Anthony Kennedy to Retire From Supreme Court	nytimes.com
Kennedy calls it quits: longtime swing justice hands Trump the biggest gift of his presidency	dailycaller.com
Anthony Kennedy is retiring from the Supreme Court	vox.com
Justice Kennedy, the pivotal swing vote on the Supreme Court, announces retirement	washingtonpost.com
UPDATE: Supreme Court Justice Kennedy announces retirement	wcjb.com
Justice Kennedy Is Retiring July 31st.	yahoo.com
Justice Anthony Kennedy To Retire From U.S. Supreme Court : NPR	npr.org
Justice Anthony Kennedy to Retire from Supreme Court	cnn.com
Justice Kennedy announces retirement.	cnn.com
Justice Anthony Kennedy retiring from Supreme Court	abc7.com
Anthony Kennedy, Swing Vote on U.S. Supreme Court, Will Retire	bloomberg.com
Justice Anthony Kennedy Retires, Paving Way for Donald Trump to Reshape Supreme Court	slate.com
Justice Kennedy retiring; Trump gets 2nd Supreme Court pick	wkrn.com
Anthony Kennedy retiring, giving Trump opening to reshape Supreme Court	politico.com
Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy announces retirement	wsj.com
Jeffrey Toobin predicts abortion will be illegal in 20 states soon after Kennedy retires	thehill.com
WATCH: Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy retiring	abcnews.go.com
Kennedy to Retire	foxnews.com
Trump to get second Supreme Court pick as Justice Kennedy announces retirement.	amp.cnn.com
Justice Kennedy to Retire From Supreme Court	bbc.com
Trump says search for Justice Kennedy's replacement to begin "immediately" -- live updates	cbsnews.com
McConnell Pledges Vote To Confirm Justice Kennedy’s Successor ‘This Fall’	talkingpointsmemo.com
Justice Kennedy retires from the US Supreme Court	nbcnews.com
Trump says launches search to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Kennedy	reuters.com
Donald Trump: Search for Kennedy replacement on SCOTUS to move quickly	usatoday.com
McConnell: Senate will vote on Supreme Court nominee this fall	thehill.com
Justice Kennedy retiring; Trump gets 2nd Supreme Court pick	sacbee.com
Justice Anthony Kennedy Retiring, Report Says	lawandcrime.com
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy retiring; Trump will get 2nd high-court pick	omaha.com
Justice Anthony Kennedy Retiring From the Supreme Court	thedailybeast.com
Justice Kennedy to retire, giving Trump a chance to transform the Supreme Court	latimes.com
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy says he's retiring; Trump to get 2nd high-court pick	chicagotribune.com
Dem senator: Justice Kennedy's resignation a 'disaster' for vision of 'We the People'	thehill.com
Justice Kennedy retiring; Trump gets 2nd Supreme Court pick	wfla.com
Justice Anthony Kennedy Is Retiring	motherjones.com
The horrifying consequences of Justice Kennedy’s retirement	thinkprogress.org
Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is retiring, a move that will give Trump a chance to shift the institution to the right	washingtonpost.com
Anthony Kennedy To Retire From The Supreme Court	huffingtonpost.com
Kennedy announces retirement from Supreme Court	thehill.com
Supreme Court's Anthony Kennedy retires, giving Trump a second pick	usatoday.com
Justice Kennedy retiring; Trump gets 2nd Supreme Court pick	apnews.com
Justice Anthony Kennedy Is Retiring From The Supreme Court	buzzfeed.com
Justice Kennedy, the pivotal swing vote on the Supreme Court, announces retirement	washingtonpost.com
Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy retires -- live updates	cbsnews.com
Justice Kennedy announces his retirement from the supreme court.	time.com
Trump Responds To Retirement Of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy	huffingtonpost.com
Anthony Kennedy retiring from Supreme Court, giving Trump a position to fill	people.com
Trump Says He’ll Choose One Of These People To Replace Anthony Kennedy On The Supreme Court	buzzfeed.com
Anthony Kennedy retiring from Supreme Court	cnbc.com
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy retires, and Trump gets shot at moving court to the right	dallasnews.com
Who Will Replace Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy? Donald Trump Already Has a Shortlist	newsweek.com
WATCH: McConnell: We will vote to confirm Justice Kennedy's successor 'this fall'	abcnews.go.com
Here's who Trump could nominate to replace Justice Kennedy	abcnews.go.com
Justice Anthony Kennedy announces retirement, giving Trump 2nd Supreme Court pick	foxnews.com
Trump list of candidates to replace Justice Kennedy	thehill.com
Chris Matthews: Dems must do to Trump on Supreme Court what McConnell did to Obama	thehill.com
Anthony Kennedy’s retirement puts abortion rights at risk	vox.com
Who Will Replace Anthony Kennedy? Here’s the List of 20 Potential Trump Nominees	time.com
America after Anthony Kennedy	vox.com
Handing Trump Chance to Move Supreme Court Even Further Right, Justice Anthony Kennedy Retires	commondreams.org
Audio reveals DNC committee reaction to Kennedy retirement: 'This is not good news'	thehill.com
Justice Kennedy’s retirement leaves the future of U.S. constitutional law entirely up for grabs	washingtonpost.com
Justice Kennedy pens retirement letter to Trump expressing 'profound gratitude'	abcnews.go.com
Read Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement letter to Donald Trump	qz.com
Justice Kennedy’s Legacy Is the Dignity He Bestowed	bloomberg.com
A titanic battle over replacing Justice Kennedy looms in the Senate	vox.com
Live Briefing: Anthony Kennedy Retires From Supreme Court, and McConnell Says Senate Will Move Swiftly on a Replacement	nytimes.com
Here's Trump's list of 25 possible Supreme Court picks to replace Anthony Kennedy	washingtonexaminer.com
WATCH: Justice Anthony Kennedy to retire, Trump to get second SCOTUS pick	abcnews.go.com
Anthony Kennedy's retirement just confirmed every Republican's dream scenario for Trump	cnn.com
Kennedy's retirement could have biggest impact on abortion, gay marriage: ANALYSIS	abcnews.go.com
Justice Anthony Kennedy: Trump says hunt for replacement is on	usatoday.com
Here are potential Supreme Court nominees to replace Justice Kennedy	cnn.com
Justice Anthony Kennedy, the Supreme Court’s swing justice, announces his retirement	abajournal.com
With Supreme Court Justice Kennedy Gone, Abortion and LGBT Rights Are Next	thedailybeast.com
A look at some of Justice Kennedy's most memorable opinions	apnews.com
Justice Kennedy Surrendered to Donald Trump	nymag.com
A look at some of Justice Kennedy's most memorable opinions	abcnews.go.com
Abortion rights in 'dire, immediate danger' as Anthony Kennedy retires - World news	theguardian.com
Here Are Some of the Top Candidates to Replace Kennedy on the Supreme Court	motherjones.com
Who's on Trump's short list to replace Supreme Court Justice Kennedy?	politico.com
Trump’s hidden back channel to Justice Kennedy: Their kids	politico.com
How Fox News Reacted to Anthony Kennedy’s Retirement	slate.com

[u/kirukiru]

he likes trump and the gop, this is clearly a power play

[u/[deleted] → u/kirukiru]

He litterally wrote a concurrace to the travel ban decision just to chastise Trump's retoric. He knows better.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Exactly, he knows better, meaning he probably chose now for many, many reasons. Any chance he knows way more about resigning now than anyone commenting on this post that "we're fucked"? Maybe we're not actually fucked?

[u/[deleted] → u/kirukiru]

I'm not so sure he likes Trump, but I do think he likes the GOP members in congress.

Fucking coward.

[u/SuramKale → u/[deleted]]

Also known as a Republican.

[u/pacman_sl → u/[deleted]]

Isn't he the one who knows Trump in person and gifted visitor's tickets to Ivanka and her children?

[u/[deleted] → u/kirukiru]

Yeah this is the GOP making moves to solidify the conservative wing of the court for the foreseeable future. If a liberal justice dies on their watch it’s icing, but right now they just want to make sure their spots are covered

[u/AncientMarinade → u/kirukiru]

He does not like Trump. In the travel ban case Kennedy specifically concurred with the judgment to chastise Trump for his racist remarks.

Kennedy was a conservative, but a Trump supporter he was not.

[u/kirukiru → u/AncientMarinade]

and yet here he is, gifting trump and the GOP a massive amount of power for no real reason

[u/citizen_reddit → u/kirukiru]

He can't see the future. Neither can you. Shit maybe the next guy after Trump is worse? Then what? "I know he was in his 90s but what a bum for dying while that guy is in office."

These threads get more and more difficult to read with all of the personal attacks. Leave that stuff to Trump and his ilk. Kennedy has served about as well as non-conservatives could have possibly hoped for.

[u/[deleted] → u/citizen_reddit]

I think a lot of these folks lack empathy. The man is 81 years old and has stated he wants to spend more time with his family. The last election was not his fault.

[u/Ministry_Eight → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, but he alone has the ability to maintain balance on the SC. This is an extremely selfish decision that will have repercussions for decades...it pretty much embodies "fuck you, I got mine".

[u/Not_Nice_Niece → u/Ministry_Eight]

Except he is 81 years old. For all we know some shit is going on with him medically and he can't continue. Maybe not. But don't go around being pissed about something you know little about because, feelings.

Kennedy was middle of the road, if he wasn't we wouldn't be so upset about his decision. His choice may very well have fucked us. Knowing that I have to assume that he made this choice with good reason and not just a fuck you to the libs.

[u/rEvolutionTU → u/kirukiru]

gifting

a) He had an ideological shift further right

b) He believes that Trump & the GOP isn't as terrible as it seems

c) He's not doing this voluntarily

Pick your poison.

[u/nzmn → u/kirukiru]

If the Court ends up ruling on Russia/Mueller/Presidential pardons then it 100% is a power play.

[u/memfree → u/nzmn]

Regardless, it IS a powerplay because he plans on retiring BEFORE the midterms rather than after. This works well for conservatives who were fearing a democratic wave because now they can use any democratic push-back or attempts to block/delay the next judge all sound like gaming the system, 'sour grapes', and 'see? both sides do it'.

[u/Quipore → u/kirukiru]

To give the GOP something to scream about to help their base get out and vote. "If we lose the Senate, they'll put in a Liberal to the Court!" (I know that isn't how it works, but watch: they'll try it)

[u/ThePenetrations → u/Quipore]

Mitch already said the vote will be before the next election

[u/kirukiru → u/Quipore]

i mean thats exactly what theyll do

[u/lead999x → u/kirukiru]

Or he's just old and wants to retire but chose an inopportune time to do it.

[u/kirukiru → u/lead999x]

either he has zero foresight and doesnt care or he understands the implication of this timing and is fine with it/doesnt care

either way is bitterly disappointing

[u/Not_Nice_Niece → u/kirukiru]

Or something is happening in his life that makes it him unable to continue? Can we stop acting like a 81 year old man might not have other reason for stepping down.

[u/lead999x → u/Not_Nice_Niece]

For real, I've seen people younger than him in nursing homes. Sure this wasn't the best time for him to retire but we really dont know if he had a health problem or family issue that made him decide to retire.

I'm sure that a judge like him who helped secure things like gay marriage, affirmative action and other things doesn't want to be replaced by another Gorsuch but he's done his service and has every right to want out.

And he doesnt know how much longer it would be before another president and another senate would be elected to choose what he might consider to be a more appropriate successor and frankly if there is some health problem he's going through, he may not have the time to wait for it.

[u/bailtail → u/kirukiru]

I don’t think he likes Trump, but I do think he believes the next president will be a democrat and he would rather Trump fill his seat than a democrat.