
Justice Anthony Kennedy to Retire from Supreme Court - benryon
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/27/politics/anthony-kennedy-retires/index.html
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rbanffy
Could at least have waited 6 more months

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epmaybe
Doesn't make sense for the gop to run with that. Best to sit someone now with
a Senate majority than to wait and risk a brutal confirmation process.

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koolba
Given the layout of the races of the 1/3 seats up for grabs this November,
Republicans will likely end up with _more_ seats.

There's also the political angle to label Democrat Senators in red states (ex:
Manchin in WV) as obstructionists prior to this years elections.

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pdwetz
A bit comical/ironic to say they'd be targeted for obstructionism given that
the other side of the aisle did just that for the last vacated seat.

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394549
I wonder if this will trigger a domino effect in retirements. Two liberal
justices (Ginsberg and Breyer) are also quite old. If there's a solid, young
conservative majority, they might not see the point in delaying their
retirement until the next presidential term.

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thrill
It's a good argument. If the next Congressional majority is expected to be
even more in one camp than the retiree, then an earlier retirement insures to
some degree a greater chance to get more candidates like yourself considered.

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RickJWagner
Kennedy made some calls I liked, some I didn't.

He was probably good for America. I hope we get another like him.

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AFNobody
Is anyone else under the impression this is just going to further cement the
right-wing-nut majority on the Supreme Court for 40 years?

Kennedy was the only genuinely party neutral Jurist appointed by either party.
They are going to replace him with another Gorusch ASAP to avoid the risk of
losing in Nov.

That leads to 5 Party-Before-Country Justices sitting on the Supreme Court
with the same ideological bent (GOP).

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cpr
Trump has made it clear that he's after constitutional conservatives.

That happens to be a GOP platform item, but it's the opposite of ideology:
follow what the constitution says, not some imaginary "modern updated" version
based on your ideology.

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iron0012
what does the constitution say about women's access to reproductive healthcare

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TAForObvReasons
Thanks to McConnell nuking the filibuster during the Gorsuch run-up, it's
likely whatever candidate Trump proposes will be rubber-stamped. Unless a
republican decides to defect, but as we saw with the tax vote the GOP will
make sure they shore up every vote needed.

This is the political/judicial version of "move fast and break things"

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jeffdavis
"This is the political/judicial version of 'move fast and break things'"

They plan for this a long time in advance. This was not a surprise to anyone.

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polski-g
Yeah. Kennedy told Grassley last summer that he was going to retire this term.

