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.
“Ginsburg will have to be carried out.
Couldn’t agree more, she’ll not go willingly”
If unable to perform her job can Roberts “officially” force her out?
Please, not yet.
Let Ruth or Breyer go first. Then you can retire. Both will be replaced by conservative judges.
For the average folks it is hard.Once you have power you are offered all kinds of things.Unless you stay on your original thought you will be sucked up.Never try to get into the mind of a negative.
I doubt it but am not familiar with the law.
She could be impeached but I seriously doubt that would happen.
I hear you, it would probably be the ideal thing.
(health care)
It certainly would be, under the conditions they set. But it's a problem that has to be solved, at least enough so that the nation isn't economically beyond repair because it's subsidizing bad health and overpriced solutions. If there is ever to be a way out of the mess, it's going to take some very astute thinkers. Ted Cruz is one of the few in the US Senate who has the brain power to work for a solution.
They tend to save the important opinions for the last days of the Term. She is probably the author of some of those.
CROAK already!
I always just called it SODOMIZER.
I’m pretty sure he already said he’s going back to the list again.
I have been smoking (tobacco) since I was 11 years old, drinking whiskey since I was 17 years old, been a ranchhand, Firefighter, a Marine (also firefights), heavy duty truck driver, dumb old plumber, and supervised 87 men in all the trades. Retired and now I am just a dumb old farmer.
Had to finally see a doctor for a hearing test (yes I got the hearing aids), the Doc decided I needed a whole sh!tpot full of tests (hadn’t seen a Doc since 1982), some of them were quite horrible.
I read the finale results and about died laughing; the report said “you are in very good physical condition for a man your age, continue your healthy life style and make an appointment for a full physical in a years time”.
OK DOC (what other response could I give)?
Still laughing about that report.
Thomas Lee in Utah as a replacement and most Scalia like?
someone please WAKE UP Ginsberg and tell her to retire!
someone please WAKE UP Ginsberg and tell her to retire!
Perhaps God will find a way to enable that.
” 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.”
The problem with younger judges is they can turn left once appointed. John Paul Stevens was a conservative when appointed by Gerald Ford at age 55. He “evolved” into one of the more liberal justices.
Justice Kennedy, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan and joined the court at age 52 has been a swing vote on the court not a reliable conservative. The same held true with another Reagan pick Justice Sandra Day O’Conner who was appointed at age 51.
Justice Roberts, touted as a conservative when appointed by George W. Bush at age 50, has also not been a reliable conservative vote on the court.
History shows conservative judges often evolve into progressives. Harry Blackman of Roe v. Wade fame is a prime example. He was appointed by Richard Nixon at age 62 and served on the court for 24 years. Conservative Chief Justice Warren Berger recommended Blackman to President Nixon. By the time he retired Blackman was most liberal justice on the court.
History also shows liberals, once appointed, never evolve into conservatives while serving on the Supreme Court.
Life is a balancing act. There is no way to see into the future and ascertain how events will shape someone or to see into their hearts to understand how they will operate once nominated. I suggest it was not their age that was the deciding factor in these Justices.
Since President Trump’s Congress can decide by simple majority on his judicial appointment he will not need to pick someone middle of the road which I believe was the case in some of the Justices you reference. That should allow for the appointment of a sincerely conservative justice.
I do believe that Roberts was/is compromised by blackmail. Having been picked by a Republican is no guarantee of conservative purity. The other Justices that you mention were not picked for conservative viewpoints although Blackmun was described as a strict constructionist the committee seemed more interested in his stock portfolio than his decisions & writings.
Sandra Day O’Connor was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Reagan on August 19, 1981, thus fulfilling his 1980 campaign promise to appoint the first woman to the highest court in the United States. Review of the confirmation hearings suggests she was a moderate Republican when chosen and continued as one during her court tenure.
Kennedy’s nomination came after Reagan’s failed nominations of Robert Bork and Douglas Ginsburg. His decisions commented on during his confirmation addressed individual liberty and the right of a State to make mistakes (Bowers). Regan chose someone that both sides could approve as just & balanced not a staunch conservative.
President Nixon April 14 named Judge Blackmun, of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, to fill the Supreme Court seat. The President’s first two nominees for that seat, Judges Haynsworth of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and Carswell of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, both had been denied confirmation. The Senate refused Nov. 21, 1969, by a 45–55 vote, to confirm Haynsworth, and refused April 8, 45–51, to confirm Carswell.
https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal70-1292788
Not joking but, in no way endorsing either. I’d love a deeply conservative and deeply constitutional justice instead. My words were speculation, not what I want to see. Nonetheless, the GOP has some squishies and some pro-aborts in the Senate and they are going to demand something for their vote unless Trump can muster a few Democrats to back his nominee. Everyone knows what’s at stake here and if you think they are going to rubber stamp a true conservative on a 51-49 vote, you’re sorely lacking in the ways of Washington.
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