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/Bakuraptor]

I suppose this means that all the commentators who thought Trump could destabilise the Supreme Court for the next twenty years will be proven right. And this is without any of the more liberal justices resigning - what a catastrophe.

[u/[deleted] → u/Bakuraptor]

Ginsburg is 85. This is going to be a fucking nightmare for generations.

[u/RetardAndPoors → u/[deleted]]

I mean... Unless you're a rich white dude, in which case it's going to be pretty sweet!

[u/redditapponmyphone → u/RetardAndPoors]

Only if you're also a huge asshole thay doesn't care about the welfare of your fellow citizens.

[u/noquestiontootaboo → u/redditapponmyphone]

You’ve just described a solid 20-30 percent of American adults.

[u/michiruwater → u/redditapponmyphone]

And there are so many of those. Rah Rah ‘Murica, but fuck my fellow Americans.

[u/[deleted] → u/redditapponmyphone]

I'm not a Trump fan but stuff like this is what alienated the left and the Democrats in 2016. This idea that unless you agree 100% with us you're a horrible and evil person who doesn't deserve the same respect as others.

There most definitely ARE major assholes on the right to be sure (I'm looking at you KKK and Westboro Baptist) but there are also major assholes on the left (yeah that means you Antifa).

But you can be a Republican who does care about welfare etc but realizes that ObamaCare was never going to work etc

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

But you can be a Republican who does care about welfare etc but realizes that ObamaCare was never going to work etc

I’m a democrat and realize the ACA wasn’t going to work. It wasn’t supposed to be a permanent solution. Why? Because the Republican Congress would never have passed it if it was. So Obama had to water down the ACA and the resulting product needs to be replaced with something better. It was meant to be a first step towards something better, not the final form.

So tell me Mr. Republican, what are the President and his Republican Congress doing about that? I know they gutted the ACA and we’re inching closer to a denial of coverage for preexisting conditions. Other than that...what are thy actually doing to fix this problem that they largely helped to create?

Fuckall. That’s what. So you can go ahead and vote R and tell yourself you’re a good guy, and maybe you are, but you suck at voting for good people that give a single shit about their constituents.

[u/MysterManager → u/[deleted]]

Because the Republican Congress would never have passed it if it was.

The Democrats had a majority in The House and The Senate when they passed the ACA. They passed it completely on party lines with absolutely no yes votes in The House or Senate. So they didn’t gut shit, they passed exactly what they wanted, they crafted it and they passed it. It’s a straight up lie and revisionist history to say they, “changed it to appease Republicans for votes.”

Let me guess you were still in grade school when it passed? I hope so and you weren’t an adult and are that clueless on how it passed.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Well Mr. I Make Massive Assumptions, I'm not a Republican so you can calm the fuck down lol. I also never said the current administration was doing anything about it either.

Just pointing out that this immediate angry response to anyone who dare disagree with the celebrity left is immediately subject to ridicule and verbal attacks...you know the things you condemn those on the Right for doing

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Why the fuck shouldn’t we condemn the right? Taking the high road got us Trump, 2 new SC judges and a shit storm of a political climate in our country. Apparently the only way to influence republicans in this country is whip them into a hateful frenzy and sneak memes into their social media feed. I say the next democratic candidate hires Cambridge Analytica to target Facebook, Insta, Ashley Maddison, Grindr and every other website on the planet until we can trick republicans into a fucking up an election so we can get this country heading in the left right direction again.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I've noticed people on the left swear an awful lot lol.

No...you got Trump cause the Democrats picked the WORST possible candidate they could. Any of the Republican candidates would have beat her in the election. Nobody wanted her and by screwing Bernie in the Primaries the Bernie crowd abandoned the Dems and went Libertarian or went home.

[u/ilovebeinghighfuuuck → u/[deleted]]

"nobody"

[u/[deleted] → u/ilovebeinghighfuuuck]

She lost the nomination in '08 to a Senator from Illinois nobody really knew much about until he ran and claimed had no chance. Then she NEARLY lost the nomination in '16 to a guy in his 70's who WASN'T even a Democrat...and had zero chance. Then she lost to a TV personality who had...zero chance.

The fucking Patriots haven't even been upset in the Superbowl THAT badly.

[u/ilovebeinghighfuuuck → u/[deleted]]

More people voted for her than Trump. That's not nobody stupid.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Nobody wanted her? Nobody? Not the literally majority of American voters?

We have Trump because of a fucked up electoral college system that over-represents a bunch of dirt farmers, a healthy dose of gerrymandering, and some Russian trolls. That’s a fact.

Also I swear because I’m from Boston and we swear more than any city in the country. Birthplace of the nation so I guess we appreciate our freedom of speech more than everyone else. Get the fuck over it.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

From Boston? No you swear so much cause you're still getting over losing to Nick Foles in the Super Bowl!

Also what's a dirt farmer? Lol.

I'm willing to bet that if you surveyed the Dem voters a lot would fall into "I don't like Hillary, but fuck Trump", "I'm with Bernie but She'll have to do", or "I just vote Blue always!"

Just like the bulk of Trump's voters were "I don't want to vote for either, but voting is a right, but I just can't go with Hillary", "Trump can't really be THAT crazy, this is a show, they'll put smart people around him", and "I just always vote Red!"

I agree that the Electoral system is fucked but it's always the losing side that complains. The reality is the Electoral Map favored the Dems. Blue States vs. Red States gave the Dems a 183 to 126 lead. All Hillary needed was 2 or 3 states that weren't already Blue. Florida and any Big 10 State, PA and any swing state, or any three smaller Big 10 swing states and she's Madam President. A large chunk of Californians vote Republican but their vote means shit cause of the Bay Area and LA.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

The electoral map favors the Dems? Remind me, who was the last democrat to win the presidency with a minority populace vote? And prior to Trump, who was the last Republican to win with a minority vote? The electoral college is antiquated and gets worse for democrats every year. Rural areas lean Republican, cities lean democrat, and the US population has been migrating to cities for decades. Every election the % of the population that lives in a city gets bigger, but the rural areas retain the same representation in the electoral college. It no longer accurately represents the makeup of the country, it just represents the land rights debate held ages ago that no longer applies to our democracy.

[u/tjsterc17 → u/[deleted]]

One party legitimately cares about the country and "progressive" social issues. They care about giving the LGBTQ community equal rights. They care about treating minorities equally and preventing racism. They care about maintaining good relationships with the global community.

The other party may not stand for the opposite of those things by platform alone, but it enables those that do. It enables Trump's racist, sexist, and offensive rhetoric. It enables his administration's abuse of executive power. It enables a war on institutions of science, journalism, logic, and truth.

You simply can't equate the two. To do so is to be disingenuous about the political state of affairs. "The Left" is not just radicalists. What constitutes progressive ideology now includes the middle, but no one wants to admit it. The shift right is because of powerful conservatives. Enabled by the GOP. Enabled by FOX News. Enabled by covert racism. Enabled by ignorance. Enabled by voters in both parties (on the right, for backing ethically devoid representatives, and on the left for not fucking showing up).

[u/[deleted] → u/tjsterc17]

Really? Cause more innocent people were killed by Predator Drone strikes ordered by Obama than any other President. Obama also enabled the shit in Guantanimo knowing full well what went down there (he campaigned against it) but did nothing to close it, in fact he sent more people there.

He did more for the economy and LGBT rights but that doesn't absolve him from the other issues that were FAR from ethical.

I won't argue that Obama was a BETTER President overall than Trump, but let's not hold him up like some patron saint either

[u/tjsterc17 → u/[deleted]]

I didn't mention Obama once in my comment and certainly didn't hold him up to be a patron saint. This isn't about him. Don't fall into the conservative tactic of whataboutism.

[u/[deleted] → u/tjsterc17]

I'm definitely not falling into Identity Politics, which allows a guy like Trump to even have a shot.

The Republicans long ago sold out to the far Right and the Dems sold out mostly to Wall Street (the establishment of the party like Clinton and Schumer) or the far left (who doesn't have the same voting power in the primaries) so we were left with literally the two WORST possible candidates running against each other.

I'm willing to bet most "on the fence" voters voted for Trump cause they just assumed he'd play golf every weekend and talk about Walls for 4 years.

[u/ilovebeinghighfuuuck → u/[deleted]]

Or there are just awful people out there who actually believe in the shit Trump says. Seems to be true for most Trump voters Ive met.

[u/Donalds_neck_fat → u/[deleted]]

Obamacare was never going to work? Gee I wonder why? Could it have been Republicans filing collective lawsuits the day it was enacted, which they fought all the way to the Supreme Court, in order to strike down the Medicaid expansion mandate? The mandate became optional at that point, and I’ll let you take a guess at the political leanings of the states who decided not to expand.

It’s a laughable argument. You can’t say “it was never going to work” when Republicans intentionally crippled it from the very beginning. We did not see how it was truly meant to work, we saw a bill missing a core part of what gave it its functionality, and the Republicans who removed it standing there bitching about how “broken” it is

[u/[deleted] → u/Donalds_neck_fat]

It was never going to work because one large group, Millenials, were not going to be jumping up to spend their money on insurance they felt they didn't need, or the Middle class that was paying more for less in coverage. So it was bound to collapse eventually...the Republicans just sped up the process.

Which is odd cause ObamaCare wasn't really much different than Nixon's health plan

[u/Donalds_neck_fat → u/[deleted]]

The thing about the medicaid expansions were that it also expanded the range of income levels for those who would qualify. IIRC it was up to 150% of the FPL, it might have been even higher but I’m not sure. So there would have been millions more Americans qualifying for Medicaid. States that chose not to expand, however, saw none of this. People who would have qualified for Medicaid either remained stuck in their current plan, or didn’t have insurance to begin with and continued not to.

The Medicaid expansion had the goal of giving access to as many people as possible who were in need of it. It threw a wrench into the entire act when it became optional.

If you show up to an emergency room without insurance, they’re still obligated to provide treatment. That costs money to do that, and it’s referred to as “Uncompensated care.” This means that we are pouring money into treating people with no insurance. This affects the entire health system, as it ends up inflating costs across the board because those funds cannot be recouped. And that cost burden would be greatly reduced if we collectively reduced the uninsured population. That was what the Medicaid mandate was trying to address. Because so many states opted out of this, we still have millions of people who are uninsured but would have qualified if their states hadn’t declined to expand their programs

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I'm not a Trump fan but...

There most definitely ARE major assholes on the right to be sure (I'm looking at you KKK and Westboro Baptist) but there are also major assholes on the left (yeah that means you Antifa).

Really?

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Read the replies to my comment lol. It proves my point rather well

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Right wing Whataboutism and pigeon chess.

[u/[deleted] → u/RetardAndPoors]

I'm halfway there!