Anthony Kennedy: US Supreme Court judge to retire - BBC News 28/06/2018, 11)28 AM

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Justice Kennedy's retirement hands Mr Trump a second pick on the US Supreme Court

US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is to retire, giving President

Donald Trump the chance to cement a conservative majority on the top court.

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Anthony Kennedy: US Supreme Court judge to retire - BBC News 28/06/2018, 11)28 AM

The conservative has sided with liberals on many decisions, including the 5-4
rulings that decided same-sex marriage and upheld abortion rights.

In his letter to Mr Trump, Justice Kennedy expressed "profound gratitude" for

having served in the highest court.

The 81-year-old judge will retire on 31 July, he said in his letter.

Life on t
He is the second-oldest justice on the nine-member US Supreme Court.
islands
Analysis: Why a fight over US abortion law looms

Why is the US Supreme Court so important?

The court plays a key role in American life and is often the final word on highly
contentious laws, disputes between states and the federal government, and final
appeals to stay executions.

In recent years, it has expanded gay marriage to all 50 states, halted President Is India
Barack Obama's immigration orders and delayed a US plan to cut carbon women?
emissions while appeals went forward.

Earlier this week it upheld Mr Trump's travel ban which covers people from
several Muslim-majority countries, in a 5-4 conservative majority ruling.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said on Wednesday that a

vote on Mr Trump's nominee to replace Justice Kennedy - who earned a reputation
as the court's "swing" vote - would take place by the autumn.
The 'dea
Justice Kennedy has frequently sided with abortion rights advocates in the court
and news of his retirement has raised fears among pro-choice groups that access
to legal abortions in several states could be under threat.

Why a fi
now loo

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Anthony Kennedy: US Supreme Court judge to retire - BBC News 28/06/2018, 11)28 AM

BBC Fu
learning

Justice Kennedy said he was retiring because he wanted to spend more time with How to
his family. undergr

Who is Anthony Kennedy?

Justice Kennedy, who was raised in California, was nominated by President Ronald
Reagan and began his term in 1988.

He voted conservative on issues of campaign finance, voting rights and gun rights
but was considered a swing vote on key rulings.
Six attem
Justice Kennedy penned the Supreme Court's first major gay-rights decision inclusiv
in 1996, protecting LGBT Americans from discrimination.

In 2015, he authored the landmark opinion which gave LGBT citizens the right to
marry, writing: "They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law and the
Constitution grants them that right."

Meet the Supremes - the nine judges on US top court

Not best of times in US, says top justice

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Anthony Kennedy: US Supreme Court judge to retire - BBC News 28/06/2018, 11)28 AM

As a justice, he routinely favoured personal liberty and the limiting of federal power.

Mr Trump said Justice Kennedy had "displayed great vision" and "tremendous
heart".

Timing is everything
Who car
Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington outback

Without Anthony Kennedy, the political centre on the Supreme Court will be firmly
on the right. Whoever Donald Trump nominates - and he's promised to draw from
the same list of candidates from which he picked Neil Gorsuch - will be a person
with solid conservative bona fides.

Democrats and liberal activists will howl, rage and do all they can to slow the
process, but the timing of Mr Kennedy's retirement makes what happens next all
but inevitable. The president will surely offer his choice quickly, and if Republican Merkel's
senators stick together they have the votes to confirm before November's mid- migrant
terms congressional elections, let alone when new senators are sworn in next
January.

And even if the court vacancy becomes a campaign issue, the open seat in 2016 Most R
proved that court vacancies are a much stronger motivating consideration for
Republicans - particularly evangelical voters - than they are for Democrats. France's
national s
File this as yet another entry in the "elections have consequences" scrapbook.
Europe's
If Hillary Clinton had prevailed in 2016, Democrats would be contemplating a 6-3 it finish th
liberal Supreme Court majority and an opportunity to reshape the legal landscape
for a generation. Instead, on subjects like abortion law and gay rights, the World Cu
pendulum is swinging the other direction. celebrate
'brothers'

Anthony K
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Anthony Kennedy: US Supreme Court judge to retire - BBC News 28/06/2018, 11)28 AM

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What's the reaction?
During a meeting with Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa at the White
House, President Trump said he would select a nominee to replace Justice
Kennedy from a list of 25 potential court candidates that his campaign had
compiled during the election.

Mr Trump said the process to replace him would begin immediately.

"Hopefully we will pick someone who is just as outstanding", he said.

Mr Trump added that he had learned of the judge's retirement about a half hour
before, when Justice Kennedy came to the White House to meet him.

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Anthony Kennedy: US Supreme Court judge to retire - BBC News 28/06/2018, 11)28 AM

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"We have a very excellent list... of tremendous people" Ads

Expat In T
The White House also released a statement thanking Justice Kennedy for his 30 £50k-£1m In
years of service as a "tireless voice for individual rights". Today To Sho
Expat Saving
"His words have left an indelible mark not only on this generation, but on the fabric
Red Plane
of American history." ₱2,054.67
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Top Democrat Chuck Schumer said in a televised speech on the floor of the Senate
that Justice Kennedy's replacement would be a decision affecting "generations".

"Our Republican colleagues in the senate should follow the rule they set in 2016,
not to consider a Supreme Court Justice in an election year," Senator Schumer
said.

"Anything but that would be the absolute height of hypocrisy."

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Anthony Kennedy: US Supreme Court judge to retire - BBC News 28/06/2018, 11)28 AM

Judge Gorsuch spoke of his "most solemn assignment"

Fellow Democrat Tammy Duckworth cited that same rule, pushed in 2016 by
Republican leader Mitch McConnell, in a tweet.

The American people should have a voice in the selection of

their next Supreme Court Justice. #Kennedy
pic.twitter.com/TAgp0yzPeX
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) June 27, 2018

Report

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Anthony Kennedy: US Supreme Court judge to retire - BBC News 28/06/2018, 11)28 AM

Top Republican and House Speaker Paul Ryan called Justice Kennedy "a man of
integrity and decency".

In his decades of faithful service on the bench, Justice

Kennedy has been a man of integrity and decency. He has
earned the respect of the House and the American people. I
look forward to @POTUS nominating a qualified successor
who will be dedicated to upholding the Constitution.
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) June 27, 2018

Report

"He has earned the respect of the House and the American people," he wrote,
adding that he was looking forward to Mr Trump's nomination of a successor who
would be "dedicated to upholding the Constitution".

Related Topics

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