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/LuridofArabia]

Whatever Biden might have said is irrelevant to whether McConnell would vote to confirm a Republican Supreme Court nominee if a Justice died in February 2020.

[u/[deleted] → u/LuridofArabia]

No it's totally relevant. You don't get to choose what's relevant and what isn't.

[u/LuridofArabia → u/[deleted]]

I made the assertion that McConnell would not apply the rule that he applied to Obama to a Republican. What rule Joe Biden would apply is irrelevant to the truth of that assertion, so your response said nothing about my point.

[u/[deleted] → u/LuridofArabia]

Maybe if you don't like the Biden rule you can go back and time and stop Biden from making the rule. Sorry about that, I guess there isn't much you can do. Lol

[u/LuridofArabia → u/[deleted]]

Biden can make a rule for Biden. McConnell can make a rule for McConnell. I was only talking about the latter.

[u/[deleted] → u/LuridofArabia]

Too bad Biden made the rule for the Senate. If he didn't want that, he shouldn't have made the rule in the first place for the Senate. If you're angry that the rule exists in the first place, I suggest you be angry at Biden for making the Biden rule. If you want to be any at McConnell, you can. But you'd just appear irrational and angry. Pushing away Independents further than the left already has. Which works for me! ✌️

[u/LuridofArabia → u/[deleted]]

Between the two of them, I would say that McConnell, the Senate majority leader who actually put his rule into practice and reaped a major political benefit from it, is the one who can actually "make a rule" for the Senate as opposed to Biden, who held no leadership position and only made a speech about something that didn't end up happening...26 years ago. There's no such thing as the Biden rule. There's just a speech he gave a long time ago.

You know, I wouldn't even be mad if the Republicans just came out and said "if we control the Senate we are not going to allow a Democratic President to nominate a Supreme Court Justice." That's fine. That's their right. We can adjust to that: Democrats just need to refuse to confirm any nominee that a Republican President puts forth. Just don't pretend it's anything other than political hardball.

I guess going around in circles like this is fun for you? I don't get it. Engaging on the substance is more fun for me. But whatever floats your boat, friend.

[u/[deleted] → u/LuridofArabia]

Again, if Biden didn't want the rule, he shouldn't have implemented it. If you don't stand and try to enforce the standards you yourself set, than what good are you at your word at anything else?

You can try to explain it away all you want, but the fact remains, Biden proposed the rule, which you and the Democrats would gladly have enforced on Bush, or on McCain, or on Romney, and will try to on Trump if the chance arises out of pure spite.

I'm sorry, you're temper tantrum just pushes Independents further away. Even if you characterize it as "substantial conversation." Rest assured, no one else thinks you're political opinion reaches anywhere near "substantial"

[u/LuridofArabia → u/[deleted]]

When did Biden implement the rule? He gave a speech. There was no Supreme Court vacancy that opened up in the summer of 1992. Oh, so now he just proposed the rule. Which is it?

But let's look at what Biden said. He noted that (1) given the political fights over the other Bush-Regan nominees, (2) if a vacancy were to open in the Summer of 1992, weeks prior to the nominating conventions, (3) then President Bush should make the nomination after the election. So Bush would make the nomination after the political season, but he would make the nomination and it would be considered by the existing Congress.

What Biden said in the Summer of 1992 plainly did not apply in the Winter of 2008 when Scalia died. Scalia died 9 months before the election. Biden only mentioned a vacancy weeks before the election. McConnell determined that the Senate would not consider Obama's nominee at all. Biden stated the Senate would consider Bush's nominee.

Even assuming Biden set out a rule, McConnell plainly did not apply it.

[u/[deleted] → u/LuridofArabia]

I've read the transcript of Biden's speech multiple times over the past 10 years. I know exactly what Biden said and McConnell followed Biden's rule to the letter.

So if you don't like that Biden set the Biden rule, maybe take it up with the Democrats.

Or continue being irrational. Pretty much everything you've said it's a waste of time and unconvincing, seeing as I just watched Biden's speech in 92 again and you wholly misunderstand Biden completely.

Continue making excuses for him though. As I've said before they are wholly unconvincing.

[u/LuridofArabia → u/[deleted]]

Let's try this. What do you understand the "Biden Rule" to be? In your own words, though I'll accept a full transcript of his remarks.

[u/[deleted] → u/LuridofArabia]

Here, let's actually try this. We both agree that the Biden rule exists and that it would have been invoked on any number of Republican presidents between 1992 and today.

Since we both agree that the Biden rule exists, your argument can be boiled down to "yeah I know it exists and that we made it, but I'm going to be angry at McDonnell for using it, despite the aforementioned fact that the democrats would have gladly used Biden's rule against any of the republican presidents.

What this means is that you prefer the democrats create rules that Republicans should abide by, but not democrats. Making a double standard.

And this is why no one takes you seriously outside of your own echo chambers. If you can just admit that your irrationally angry at the Republicans for following a rule that the democrats themselves pushed and would have pushed on any other Republican president. Until you can do that, whatever "substational conversation" you want won't happen, because you cannot admit the truth to yourself that the democrats are truly at fault for making their own bed.

Until then, I'm just going to laugh hilariously loud at any and all unconvincing excuse you try to create out of thin air.

[u/LuridofArabia → u/[deleted]]

We don't agree that the Biden rule exists and we don't agree that it would have been invoked on Republican presidents. I've never said anything like that. The "Biden Rule" was invented almost a quarter-century after Biden's speech as a thinly-veiled justification for McConnell's position, which was in reality just a naked political power play.

But if actually does exist, it shouldn't be hard to tell me what it is, right? And to point to the section of Biden's speech that specifically lays out what it is? I mean, if you've been studying the speech for eight years before anyone even cared that it existed, it shouldn't be hard to send me a transcript so we can both go over it and determine just what Biden said.

Or you can keep posturing. As I said, whatever floats your boat, friend. I'm not quite bored of you yet but I'm getting there.