US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement a big win for Donald Trump

AMERICAN life could be in for a radical shift after a prominent US Supreme Court Justice announced his retirement.

Justice Kennedy, who has often cast the tie-breaking vote between the top American court’s liberal and conservative judges, is set to depart at the end of July.

His exit will pave the way for President Donald Trump to appoint a staunchly conservative judge to the nine-seat bench, spelling a historic swing to the right for the court.

Mr Trump is likely to appoint a replacement who he believes will support his agendas, such as overturning Roe v. Wade, which granted women legal access to abortion.

Justice Kennedy has mainly supported abortion rights during his time on the court, and Mr Trump has made clear he would try to choose justices who want to overturn the landmark abortion rights case.

There are also concerns as to how the new appointment might treat the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, such as whether Mr Trump would be required to testify before a grand jury or if the president could be indicted.

Such a dramatic step may not be immediately likely, but a more conservative court might be more willing to sustain abortion restrictions.

“It has been the greatest honour and privilege to serve our nation in the federal judiciary for 43 years, 30 of those on the Supreme Court,” Justice Kennedy was quoted as saying in a statement announcing his decision.

Nominated by president Ronald Reagan, the 81-year-old Kennedy took his oath of office in 1988.

Justice Kennedy’s vote, positioned at the very centre of the court, gives him a place of special prominence among the nine justices.

Justice Kennedy cast the deciding vote in a number of historic cases, including the high court’s groundbreaking decision in 2015 legalising gay marriage, a five-to-four decision for which he wrote the opinion.

He said his decision to step aside was based on his deep desire to spend more time with his family.

Paying tribute to Kennedy as “a great justice of the Supreme Court”, Mr Trump told reporters the replacement process will “begin immediately.”

“Hopefully we will pick someone who is just as outstanding,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.

DEMOCRATS RESPOND
Kennedy’s departure sets the stage for a brutal battle over his succession, a blueprint for which was established by Republican politicians in 2016 when they denied then-president Barack Obama the opportunity to fill the seat left vacant following the death of conservative justice Antonin Scalia.

Now, Democrats argue that Trump’s pick should not be put to a vote until after new legislators are elected in midterm polls this fall.

Illustrating the high stakes, top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer called it “the most important Supreme Court vacancy for this country in at least a generation”.

“Millions of people are just months away from determining the senators who should vote to confirm or reject the president’s nominee, and their voices deserve to be heard,” Mr Schumer said.

“Anything but that would be the absolute height of hypocrisy.”

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi took to Twitter, unearthing a tweet from 2016 by Republican Senate Leader John McConnell that called for a people’s vote to select a Supreme Court Justice.

“Americans are about to see if @senateMajLdr & @senateGOP will heed the McConnell Rule or rashly proceed to confirm a nominee,” Ms Pelosi wrote.

“The future of our democracy is at stake. The people deserve a voice in a decision that could radically alter the course of American justice for decades.”

But Mr McConnell indicated he was opposed to waiting, saying that “we will vote to confirm Justice Kennedy’s successor this fall”.

California Democrat Barbara Lee, a supporter of the pro-choice movement, said Justice Kennedy’s the fundamental rights of Americans were at risk.

“Justice Kennedy’s retirement puts our fundamental rights — to reproductive health care, to marry, to equality under the law — in jeopardy,” Ms Lee tweeted.

“Trump, Pence, & McConnell will exploit this vacancy to impose their extreme, anti-choice vision on the US. The Senate must #SaveSCOTUS.”

Even Republicans appeared concerned about Justice Kennedy’s retirement, with prominent Senator and former US Presidential candidate Marco Rubio tweeting his support for an appointee who showed “judicial restraints”.

“I admire Justice Kennedy’s frequent calls for greater civility in our discourse,” Mr Rubio wrote.

“Now I look forward to a fair & thorough confirmation process THIS FALL of an individual who will respect the principles of original intent & judicial restraint #SCOTUS”

Regardless of who replaces him, Kennedy’s departure will be a massive change for the high court, where he has been the crucial swing vote for more than a decade.

He has sided with the liberal justices on gay rights and abortion rights, as well as some cases involving race, the death penalty and the rights of people detained without charges at the Guantánamo Bay naval base.

He has written all the court’s major gay-rights decisions, including the 2015 ruling that declared same-sex marriage is a constitutional right nationwide.

His departure will give Mr Trump his second Supreme Court pick since arriving at the White House, following the nomination of Neil Gorsuch.

Justice Gorsuch was sworn in April last year to fill a more than year-long vacancy left by the death of conservative justice Antonin Scalia.

Mr Trump is expected to name a nominee within weeks, setting in motion a process that could allow confirmation of a new justice by early August.

Mr Trump already has a list of 25 candidates — 24 judges and Utah senator Mike Lee — from which he will choose a nominee.

Prominent on that list are Judges Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania and William Pryor of Alabama, seriously considered for the seat eventually filled by Justice Gorsuch, and Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who serves on the federal appeals court in Washington, DC.

Few obstacles seem to stand in the way of confirming Kennedy’s replacement before the court reconvenes in October.

Republicans changed the rules during Gorsuch’s confirmation to wipe out the main delaying tactic for Supreme Court nominees, the filibuster, and the need for 60 votes to defeat it.

The other two older justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, and Stephen Breyer, 79, are Democratic appointees who would not appear to be going anywhere during a Trump administration if they can help it.

Justice Kennedy’s decision came after the court ruled in a pair of landmark cases this week in identical 5-4 votes — ruling that Trump’s immigration ban targeting mostly Muslim-majority countries was legal, and that workers could not be forced to pay public employee union fees.