Posted on 06/24/2017 4:51:20 PM PDT by jazusamo
The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it will publish its final rulings for this term on Monday. Some significant cases, including the possibility the court will hand down a decision on the legality of President Trump's travel ban, will be decided.
But Washington is rife with rumors and speculation about the future of Justice Anthony Kennedy and whether or not he will retire after the term. Kennedy is 80 years old and said to be seriously considering the idea of stepping down. If he did, it would set off the mother of all confirmation battles. Kennedy has been the all-important swing vote on the court, casting the pivotal fifth vote on legalizing same-sex sex marriage and upholding abortion rights.
Conservatives would dearly love to see one of their own replace him — which is why liberals are expected to mount a titanic battle to prevent that.
"As the court's most important Justice -- at the center of the institution's ideological balance -- Justice Kennedy's ability to bridge the divide between left and right on critical issues such as the right to access abortion cannot be overstated," said Elizabeth Wydra, president of the Constitutional Accountability Center. "Replacing Justice Kennedy with a Trump nominee would almost certainly sound the death knell for Roe, just as candidate Trump promised during the 2016 campaign."But nine years later, he sided once again with the liberals on the court to strike down a Texas law that abortion rights supporters thought was the most strict nationwide. Without Kennedy's vote, the law would have been allowed to go into effect, inspiring other states to pass similar legislation.
In the same term, Kennedy pivoted on the issue of affirmative action when he voted for the first time in favor of a race-conscious admissions plan at a public university.
After that term, former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal said, "It is very much Justice Kennedy's Court."
"You can't understand how important his affirmative action opinion is without understanding his earlier jurisprudence," said Katyal. "For decades, he has been the court's most eloquent voice on the need to be color blind -- why he changed his mind is something historians will debate for decades."
However, sometimes Kennedy voted with the four conservatives on the bench. It was Kennedy who penned the majority opinion in Citizens United v. FEC -- striking down election spending limits for corporations and unions in support of individual candidates.
He's also sided with the right side of the bench on issues such as gun control and voting rights. Kennedy joined Chief Justice John Roberts' 2012 opinion, Shelby County V. Holder striking down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.
And Kennedy sided with George W. Bush in the case that essentially decided the 2000 presidential election for the GOP candidate.
Liberals will do everything in their power to stop anyone President Trump nominates from taking his seat on the court. All of their pious, weepy rhetoric about the Constitution that we heard during the months that the Merrick Garland nomination lay fallow will be forgotten as they wage a ferocious fight to keep the seat vacant.
But in the end, they don't have the votes in the Senate to stop the president from naming pretty much whomever he wishes.
Justice Neil Gorsuch has yet to put his imprint on the court and some of the cases that will be handed down Monday may give us an inkling of just how conservative he is.
On Nov. 30, with one seat on the court still vacant, the eight justices heard arguments in a Los Angeles case on whether noncitizens who face possible deportation can be held in jail indefinitely or instead have a right to a bond hearing after six months. The case, Jennings vs. Rodriguez, has taken on added importance in the Trump era, but the long delay may signal that the justices are split 4-4.If so, the court may announce Monday that the case will be reheard in the fall, leaving it to new Justice Neil M. Gorsuch to cast the tie-breaking vote.
Also still pending, since January, is a California case that will decide whether a crime such as breaking into an empty home qualifies as a "crime of violence," triggering automatic deportation, even for an immigrant who is a longtime legal resident. A ruling in Sessions vs. Dimaya could affect thousands of deportations
The third case, pending since February, is a closely watched border shooting. At issue in Hernandez vs. Mesa is whether a U.S. agent can be sued for fatally shooting a 15-year-old who was standing on the Mexican side of the border.
If Kennedy retires, the president could name a relatively young conservative judge. And at least one other aging liberal Justice — Ruth Bader Ginsburg is mentioned most often — could also retire, giving President Trump the nearly unprecedented opportunity to shape the Supreme Court for a long time to come.
Elections have consequences.
If Ginsburg was so worried about POTUS and his politics...
Now, she probably has nightmares where she doesn’t wake up and Trump has appointed Ted Cruz...
Exactly, my FRiend! Thankfully the Dems chose her. ;-)
They should be nervous. They went out of their way to shape the court into an oligarchy.
I wish that the Clintons and the Obamas would just go away.
Do one thing good in your life, you liberal puke. Retire and let the president appoint an originalist to save our country. You have been a disgrace.
"I cannot, in good conscience, support this candidate"
"He/she is too far out of the mainstream"
"I have serious questions about his/her past statements regarding _____"
"His/her position on the issues of ____ and ____ raise grave concerns about his/her fitness for the high court"
His/her ties to ____ should disqualify this person from consideration"
The Wide Latina can actually make some cogent arguments.
Kagan is just a libtard hack with no judicial experience.
Ginsburg made a mistake by not quitting
when Obama was prez.
to save face, she has to claim that her intention
was always to serve as long as she could.
.
We don’t need her “Cogent arguments.”
.
Too old.
They will be replaced.I have a Friend who is friends with Justice Kennedy.They meet once a month he strings them along IMO.Ego Ego Ego.
He’s only 78. He could easily live to be 95 to 100. I have multiple friends whose parents lived to be that age.
That kind of narcissism (Clintons and Obamas) is not so easy for many of us to comprehend.
I’d rather it were Ginsburg or Breyer, but if we can get a reliable justice in place of the wobbly Kennedy, I’ll take that.
Elaine Kagan.
Practicing lawyers generally think the opposite. Kagan is quite smart and a good lawyer. Sotomayor’s legal reasoning is not nearly as good. Judicial experience is not that important. It’s brains and knowledge that matter.
That would be a very imprudent appointment.
The odds of him having more than 5 years on the job are slight. President Trump needs to pick a justice in his/he 40’s-50’s so that the position can outlast President Trump’s presidency and solidify a conservative court for the next 20 years.
:) Trump ahh.Prayers.Crazy ride.
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