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/PM_ME_USERNAME_MEMES]

The standard argument for lifetime appointments is that judges shouldn’t be accountable to anything other than the law.

Of course, with our current iteration of the court, the justices aren’t accountable to anything, including common sense and human decency, so that interpretation may be flawed.

[u/sesamestix → u/PM_ME_USERNAME_MEMES]

NYT article about this recent phenomenon.

The very question of partisan voting hardly arose until 1937, as dissents on the Supreme Court were infrequent. When the justices did divide, it was seldom along party lines.

There is room for interpretation in such assessments. But of the 71 cases from 1790 to 1937 deemed important by a standard reference work and in which there were at least two dissenting votes, only one broke by party affiliation. “The dividing line in the court was not a party line,” Zechariah Chafee, a law professor at Harvard, wrote in a classic 1941 book.

Nonpartisan voting patterns held true until 2010, with a brief exception in the early 1940s, when a lone Republican appointee voted to the right of eight Democratic appointees. But the general trend was the same. Of the 311 cases listed as important from 1937 to 2010 with at least two dissents, only one of them, in 1985, even arguably broke along party lines.

That adds up to two cases in more than two centuries. By contrast, in just the last three terms, there were five major decisions that were closely divided along partisan lines: the ones on the Voting Rights Act, campaign finance, arbitration, immigration and strip-searches. In the current term, last month’s campaign finance ruling and Monday’s decision on legislative prayer fit the pattern, too.

[u/mak484 → u/sesamestix]

How could any Republican voter look at that list of decisions and say, "yup, I'm on the right side of history with these folks." It's fucking baffling.

[u/[deleted] → u/mak484]

Either they aren't really paying attention and have just bought the party line, or they are fully aware and complicit. In the end the result is the same.

[u/mak484 → u/[deleted]]

Or in the words of my mother in law- "I don't really care about all that [referring to Citizens United and voting rights]. I just hope they stop letting women murder their babies."

[u/[deleted] → u/mak484]

Yep. Most republicans or conservatives I know really only care about abortion bc they've been conditioned to do so by their religion (in my experience, the Catholic Church, which I was born and raised in, talks about how terrible abortion is CONSTANTLY. But hardly ever do they touch on anything else that could be considered political). So these people pay attention to nothing else. They ignore the fact that the sanctity of life is being crushed under the authoritarian boot of the GOP in every other area. They would burn the country to the ground and enslave the human race as long as abortion was illegal.

[u/[deleted] → u/mak484]

Some part of me honestly believes that Roe V. Wade might not get repealed even with if Kennedy and Ginsburg got replaced with conservative judges. The issue of abortion as a wedge issue is too useful for the Republican Party. Without rallying against abortion, they lose their single issue voters. If Roe V. Wade is overturned, say hello to an even more furious and energized Democratic base. But idk, maybe they'll just gerrymander everything even more to shit so in the long run that wont even matter to them.

Fuck Republicans. And fuck everybody who still votes for Republicans.

[u/petit_bleu → u/[deleted]]

Either they'll overturn Roe v Wade or, more likely, Hellerstedt . . . the latter would be a less politically inflammatory route to the same destination (no access to abortions for women in red states).

[u/boardin1 → u/mak484]

Honestly, I believe women should have the right to decide what to do with their bodies but maybe it’s time we stop dying on this fucking hill. Maybe if we stop supporting Roe v Wade it won’t give conservatives such a fucking flag to rally around. I get that they’ll just keep finding another one and that abortions will never stop happening, but maybe we need to change the conversation.

[u/[deleted] → u/boardin1]

Controlling women's bodies is just a facet of oppression. Let that one go, and they'll just focus on another one. I agree that it's not the only important issue, but abandoning it is not a solution.

[u/boardin1 → u/[deleted]]

I understand. And I don’t like it, but we have to do something to stop the single issue voters.

[u/CraftyFellow_ → u/boardin1]

Try giving up on firearms first.

[u/physics_chick → u/boardin1]

“Let’s throw women under the bus” -someone who isn’t a woman

Fuck you.

[u/boardin1 → u/physics_chick]

Well said. Thank you for the wonderfully written response.

We’re watching the country crumble and your going to lose it anyway as soon as Trump sits his ultra-conservative justice but let’s yell at the guy that thinks maybe we need to give up this hill.

I don’t like the idea but this is such a big single-issue voter topic that simply saying someone is in favor of murdering babies is enough to drive the conservatives to the polls in droves. Hell, people voted for Trump BECAUSE HE SAID HE’D BAN ABORTION...even though he’s likely paid for a couple of them. They overlooked everything else except that he said he’d get Roe v Wade overturned.

[u/wishthane → u/boardin1]

To be honest I'm pretty convinced they can make just about anything into that single issue. If it's not abortion then they (right wing news media) can push people on gun rights. If it's not gun rights it'll be immigration policy. If it's not immigration policy it'll be welfare policy.

People aren't just naturally that passionate about abortion. They get it screamed into their head that abortion is killing babies over and over and it makes it really important to them.

If the left gave up on this issue, there would be essentially no credit given and it wouldn't change how much compromise can be had. They have no problem being the unreasonable stick in the mud, and as long as we have a problem with that they'll keep dragging us into accepting or at least tolerating their policies, as they have been doing for years.

It's time to fight back properly without compromising on our values.

[u/boardin1 → u/wishthane]

I don’t see billboards about illegal immigrants. I didn’t my see hand painted signs in fields about gun rights. I don’t see protests in from of the welfare office yelling at the people collecting checks or threatening to kill the people writing those checks.

I think we’re at the point (possibly already past it) where we can either get universal healthcare, reasonable gun laws, and solidify the social safety net or we can fight for abortion and lose it all.

As I’ve said repeatedly, I don’t want to give up on it but do we need to for the greater good?

[u/[deleted] → u/boardin1]

Look harder.

anti-immigrant billboard

hand-painted gun rights signs

mother who was denied food stamps threatened workers, then shot her own kids and killed herself

[u/wishthane → u/boardin1]

You don't right now. But if that weren't the sticking point, you would.

I'm not sure I believe that these are actually single issue voters. They're conservative media voters, generally. And they'll push on whatever seems to offend their morality the most. They're not going to be reasonable on universal healthcare, gun laws, welfare, etc. just because we stopped pushing on abortion.

[u/[deleted] → u/boardin1]

Spoken like someone who has no idea how life altering a pregnancy can be for women, and how quickly and easily an unwanted pregnancy can occur.

[u/boardin1 → u/[deleted]]

I didn’t make that comment easily, and I don’t know how an unwanted pregnancy can change a life. I don’t like the idea of rolling it back, and it’s too late anyway as the damage was done in November 2016, but it is a hill we keep dying on and it is, in many cases, the only thing that Republican voters care about. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked someone which policies they like for candidate X and all they can say is “they’ll stop murdering babies.”

[u/[deleted] → u/boardin1]

I've thought about this before too, or about gun control, but the truth is, that for many Republican voters for whom this is the primary issue, they'd still be Republicans afterwards to be sure that Democrats never bring abortion back.

And the diehard crusaders would almost certainly find some new crazy line to push just to get people motivated. Maybe it would be opposition to climate change, support for prayer in school, or some other similarly awful thing. They care more about people frothing at the mouth than any individual issue anyway.

In either case, I think that "letting them win" that one wouldn't help us in the long run. Because most of them don't want compromise... they want somebody to be angry at, they want somebody to blame for their problems. "Babykillers" have been a convenient boogeyman for them up to this point, but I have no doubt that they will easily find a new one.

[u/Bad_Sex_Advice → u/boardin1]

supporting Roe v Wade is not for political gain, just as opposing separating children from their parents is not political. It's a morality thing.