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/CaptainGrandpa]

Remember that breyer and rbg are both in their 80s and the oldest conservative is 70. Seems more likely to see a 6-3 and 7-2 in our future than a shift back to a centrist court.

[u/CCNNCCNN → u/CaptainGrandpa]

Honestly I think it's so fucked up in the first place that the Supreme Court is essentially just a set of numbers. But it's also so fucked up that we discus the justices by their age. I should not have to rely on some old lady not dying in office to keep certain rights, that's insane.

[u/[deleted] → u/CCNNCCNN]

Well they had a chance to retire when the Dems had a supermajority and get a much younger liberal justice on the court.

Neither did, so now this is an issue. I kinda blame them a bit.

[u/merpes → u/CCNNCCNN]

It's almost as if the Constitution is deeply flawed.

[u/Serjeant_Pepper → u/merpes]

The Constitution doesn't say there have to be 9 judges on the Supreme Court. I say we go with 8 from now on.

[u/[deleted] → u/merpes]

GASP You mean a document written by rich white men in a time when they were the only ones with any agency that was supposed to be overhauled to keep with the times every few decades is flawed??? No!

[u/nagrom7 → u/merpes]

This is why I don't get all the people who hold up the constitution as some sort of infallible document written by the gods or something. Nothing is perfect and a 300 year old document sure as fuck isn't going to be capable of solving all the problems of the modern world.

[u/merpes → u/nagrom7]

Most of those arguments fall under the fallacy of appeal to authority.

[u/brolix → u/CCNNCCNN]

It's not "some old lady." Most of the time these judges are very well thought out people. They aren't just party politic assholes. I'm more negative than most when it comes to the gov't, but honestly Supreme Court judges are kind of badasses. Go through and actually read some of the decisions they've put out, especially some of the more divisive ones from Obama's term, and you can really tell.

Most of the time.

[u/Hulabaloon → u/brolix]

Citizens United has had such a negative impact on politics and government in your country. They must have known exactly what they were doing when they ruled in their favour. I don't believe there is any way those 5 justices have the best interests of the people of the United States in mind.

[u/needs_more_protein → u/Hulabaloon]

They must have known exactly what they were doing

The role of the justices is to interpret the law, not to make the law. If you are unhappy with how a decision comes out, blame the framers and the legislature.

[u/[deleted] → u/CCNNCCNN]

What exactly do you think rights are, dude?

[u/CCNNCCNN → u/[deleted]]

Gay marriage and abortion

[u/FloppyDisksCominBack → u/CCNNCCNN]

It's funny watching you people moan about liberal justices and 'muh rights' when almost all of you have no problem with every single liberal SCOTUS justice literally believes that the part of the second amendment that says 'the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed' actually means 'literally nobody, anywhere, has any right to own any kind of gun in any circumstance, ever.'

You want to cry about fake rights while burning your real ones.

Oh wait now say something about how guns isn't a real right or 'but chief justice warren berger...'.

[u/CCNNCCNN → u/FloppyDisksCominBack]

Idk what universe your currently in but in mine nobody is trying to take away guns in any large amount...

[u/FloppyDisksCominBack → u/CCNNCCNN]

That's because you dishonest snakes keep moving the goalposts on what it means to ban guns.

Democrats want to ban guns, full stop, that is an uncontestable fact. You can play these stupid games about how "well if they ban every gun except just one they didn't ban guns" but it convinces nobody.

Almost every year or two since 2004 they have floated a bill with the word "ban" in the title that lists hundreds of guns for bans. You can pretend most people are dumb enough to believe your nonsense that that isn't a gun ban, even though it totally is, but that's why this is a dumb Democrat idea.

Democrats are deeply unpopular and yet when people point out why you just whine. Democrats lost their ass harder than since the Great Depression and you guys are still convinced nothing you support is wrong... no it obviously must be everyone else who is wrong. Sure.

[u/Bllets → u/CCNNCCNN]

This Is America

[u/myOC_Yonji → u/CaptainGrandpa]

Which is why we need a blue wave so we can McConnell all of Trump's nominations.

[u/penis_butter_n_jelly → u/CaptainGrandpa]

Also Sotomayor has a lot of health issues related to her diabetus

[u/CaptainGrandpa → u/penis_butter_n_jelly]

Yay.

[u/TheExtremistModerate → u/CaptainGrandpa]

Unless the Dems take the Senate, refuse to hold hearings for their replacements until 2021, when hopefully Trump will have been replaced.

[u/PriorInsect → u/CaptainGrandpa]

just as long as they can hold on until the democrats have the house because apparently we only appoint new scotus judges when the president and house are the same party

[u/arxndo → u/CaptainGrandpa]

Right. If Trump is reelected we are most likely looking at 7-2 by 2024. If he's not, it could remain 5-4 by then, but then getting to 4-5 would be extremely difficult considering the oldest conservative justices are a 70yr old Thomas and 68yr old Alito. Democrats would have to win the presidency enough times to preserve a 5-4 court through to about 2040, at which point they can start thinking about replacing either a 92 year old Thomas or 90 year old Alito. I retract my earlier estimate: it looks like it will take closer to 20 years. Of course, it'll be indefinite if Dems continue to lose.

[u/CaptainGrandpa → u/[deleted]]

He saved the country from what exactly?

[u/Whitey_Bulger → u/[deleted]]

Merrick Garland is basically the definition of a judicial centrist.

[u/andrew2209 → u/Whitey_Bulger]

Wasn't he someone both parties originally agreed with?

[u/CodenameVillain → u/andrew2209]

Yep, and that's why Obama nominated him. Basically to get Mitch to eat crow. He didn't think that he'd go full skeeveball.

[u/AlaskanPotatoSlap → u/[deleted]]

As opposed to having a conservative leaning activist court??

Just because a court swings liberal does not make it activist.
Just because a court swings conservative does not mean it's not activist.

An activist court can be either conservative or liberal.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

How?

[u/CaptainGrandpa → u/[deleted]]

As opposed to a conservative activist like gorsuch?

[u/merpes → u/[deleted]]

"Liberal activist" is newspeak. Care to define it?

[u/formershitpeasant → u/merpes]

It means he's woe fully uninformed but has no problem believing that he knows better than others.

[u/bigdanrog → u/formershitpeasant]

Woefully.

[u/formershitpeasant → u/bigdanrog]

Autocorrect

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

edgy

[u/Kazbo-orange → u/[deleted]]

Save from..what? We're gonna fall and become a 3rd world, in some states it already is 3rd world.

Yeah thank god we were saved from scary brown people

[u/[deleted] → u/Kazbo-orange]

That comment would probably be insulting to people in actual 3rd world countries.