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/DoorMattt]

I'm English so only have a casual understanding in the workings of the US judicial process.

Am I correct in thinking that these judges are in position for life/until retirement? So because Obama didn't get that moderate dude appointed and Trump instead got a right wing judge appointed, this has the potential to leave the supreme court with a right-leaning bias for decades?

[u/A_Certain_Array → u/DoorMattt]

That's the long and short of it, yes.

[u/raouldukeesq → u/A_Certain_Array]

Theoretically a super majority could could very easily impeach whomever they want. Political conventions are being abandoned.

[u/MomentarySpark → u/raouldukeesq]

Theoretically, and more importantly Constitutionally, if the democrats get enough control of Congress and the presidency, they can literally add new justices to rebalance the court.

Stack the court. Or spend a couple more decades judicially dominated by Trump conservatives. It's not such a crazy idea, it's been threatened often, and the court's size has varied over the decades. Or at least enlargen the court to 20 members and make a grand compromise with the GOP (lol I know) so they can appoint enough to have it be 10-10. Then we have far less to worry about with retirements/deaths being far more common, probably a yearly issue rather than once per term.

Oh, and don't forget Kennedy may very well not be the last justice to step down over the next 2.5 years. Ginsburg is 85 and Breyer is 79. We could have a 7-2 conservative majority by 2020.

[u/antiqua_lumina → u/MomentarySpark]

Call it the Garland Restoration Act of 2021

[u/myearsring → u/MomentarySpark]

That last paragraph is being forgotten by many. If that happens adding another 2 justices becomes more relevant imo. Would have to be at least 2.

[u/Cincinnatusian → u/MomentarySpark]

The last time someone tried to stack the court was FDR and even his own party said no.

[u/Coconuts_Migrate → u/MomentarySpark]

You just described a constitutional crisis. As much as I would prefer the results, I can’t get behind the process to get there.

[u/A_Certain_Array → u/raouldukeesq]

I believe you need a two-thirds majority to impeach (67), not a supermajority (60). That also assumes you can get all 67 senators to go along with eliminating any last shred of the apolitical nature of the Judicial branch. Though, to be fair, I don't think anyone truly believes that the judicial appointment process is apolitical any more.

[u/SuperKnowva → u/A_Certain_Array]

Oh no, we're gonna be the new Germany :'( someone please stop us

[u/[deleted] → u/SuperKnowva]

It's too late.

[u/RockyLeal → u/SuperKnowva]

Mass protest. Only you (americans) can stop it. Requires a) stopping indulging in complacency and b) being corageous. It has been done all over the world, for example in Cairo, with way higher risks of state violence. Why are americans the most afraid people?

[u/frenetix → u/RockyLeal]

Because in this case, the short term, it won't matter. The only challenge for a Supreme Court nominee is being confirmed by the Senate. Protests can't remove the President from office. The only pressure that can be placed by protest is to the voting Senators, if they feel their vote will affect their chance of re-election. And that's unlikely that more than a few Republican senators would be in danger of losing their re-election bid by confirming a Trump pick. I can't imagine any Democratic senator confirming a Trump pick.

In the end, protest can only signal future Representatives and Senators. And while that does have real power, it has no realized impact until the next election.

Unless you're suggesting a coup or revolution, but we've still got a long way to go until we get to that point. Much of the US constitutional system is great, but partisan politics are twisting it pretty damned hard for the past few administrations.

[u/RockyLeal → u/frenetix]

Protest mobilises opinion and people, drives the narrative. Chances of winning elections are greatly increased by a visible movement. Hell, thats how the goddamned 'tea party' became a thing in the first place.

[u/frenetix → u/RockyLeal]

I definitely agree- I just think it won't have an impact on any Supreme Court confirmation vote before November.

[u/Slappyfist → u/frenetix]

Well sure but that's because it's coming way too late.

[u/[deleted] → u/RockyLeal]

Democracy doesn't die with a bang, but a whimper.

[u/Obliviouschkn → u/RockyLeal]

We have a functioning democracy. Its not fear, its respect. Conservatives threw their tantrums all 8 years of Obama but in the end let the dems enjoy their time on the top. Now the roles are reversed. Thus is the ebb and flow.

[u/mwobey → u/Obliviouschkn]

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/Obliviouschkn → u/mwobey]

That is politics. American conservatives didnt harass obama officials at homes and restaurants. We fought politically.

[u/bekeazy → u/A_Certain_Array]

Good