RUMOR MILL WAS RIGHT, JUSTICE KENNEDY RETIRES
June 27, 2018
DROP THE MIC
|Because we haven’t gotten enough blockbuster news this week, JUSTICE ANTHONY KENNEDY decided to do what he does best today and leave us all with our jaws on the floor at the sound of his mic dropping at center stage. The swing vote of the United States Supreme Court, the man who ignited a movement to call SCOTUS “The Kennedy Court” and the person responsible for penning the court’s decision that legalized gay marriage nationwide has decided he’s ready to walk away. The signs were there: rumors of Republicans pushing for his retirement, his wife attending the final oral argument of the term, the wishful thinking of many in Washington. A few Supreme Court followers even predicted his retirement as recently as yesterday (h/t Richard Hasen & Ed Kilgore). And now we know for sure. He’s out, and now PRESIDENT TRUMP gets the chance to nominate someone else in. Read what folks are saying and check back tomorrow for a full debrief of Kennedy coverage.
YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T HOLD ME FOREVER
|“Going into this term, liberals had hoped that Anthony Kennedy, the 81-year-old conservative justice who has sided with the left on several historic Supreme Court decisions, would help hold off the rightward trend of the court. That didn’t happen.” That’s CNN’s Ariane de Vogue reporting on JUSTICE KENNEDY’S retirement news, noting that he didn’t quite live up to liberals’ hopes this term. An understatement perhaps, as he leaves the high court in the middle of the Trump presidency, all but ensuring a conservative will replace him on the bench.
DON'T PRETEND IT'S SUCH A MYSTERY
|Shannon Bream and Bill Mears with Fox News reported on the big announcement that PRESIDENT TRUMP wasted no time jumping in on the action. Reacting to the news that he’ll get the chance to pick another justice with a lifetime appointment, Trump called Kennedy a “great justice” and said he’d begin the search for his replacement immediately.
IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT
|In The Washington Post, Jack Goldsmith tracks the 30 years Kennedy spent on the Supreme Court — a tenure marked by the justice’s guiding force on the court’s most consequential decisions, conservative and liberal alike. Goldsmith says that with Kennedy’s departure the future of U.S. constitutional law is entirely up for grabs. “It is hard to exaggerate Kennedy’s impact on the court and the nation during the past three decades. And because of that impact, it is hard to exaggerate the stakes in the nomination and confirmation of his replacement.”
A STORM IS A'COMING
|“The Supreme Court teaches us about liberty, dignity and democracy. It safeguards those principles and helps make the Constitution real in our lives. JUSTICE ANTHONY M. KENNEDY has devoted his judicial service to that vision. But by retiring in this perilous moment, he has unleashed forces that will test the court like never before.” In The Washington Post, Joshua Matz opines that without Kennedy on the bench, the Supreme Court could quickly fall into chaos with a crushing confirmation battle ahead and little civility left in Washington.
HAVE MERCY ON ME, TAKE IT EASY ON MY HEART
|In the most dramatic of terms, Jay Michaelson declares in The Daily Beast, “The judicial apocalypse is here, and there’s nothing Democrats can do to stop it.” He says that with Kennedy gone, the right to an abortion and LGBTQ rights are next in line for the chopping block.
ON TO THE NEXT ONE
|The man behind the curtain, SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL, wasted no time today with promises of a Senate vote on a new Supreme Court justice by fall. If memory serves, this is the same guy who said a vote wasn’t permissible on then-nominee JUDGE MERRICK GARLAND because it was an election year. Maybe midterms don’t count for Mitch.
JUST YOU WAIT
|Looks like we won’t be getting a break from SCOTUS news this summer because today is only the beginning. But SCOTUSDaily is ready to be there with you every step of the way. Stay tuned tomorrow for more immediate news on the retirement of JUSTICE KENNEDY and keep reading as we follow what promises to be a major fight for the future of the Supreme Court.