Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement Wednesday, giving President Trump the chance to name another justice to the country's highest court. Trump has already named one justice to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, after Republicans refused to hold a hearing for Merrick Garland, former President Barack Obama's pick to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, until after the 2016 election.
Kennedy, 81, was a conservative-leaning swing vote on the bench for 30 years, and he wrote in his resignation letter to the president of his desire to "express my profound gratitude for having had the privilege to seek in each case how best to know, interpret, and defend the Constitution and the laws that must always conform to its mandates and promises."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Moldova's pro-West president wins 2nd termSpeed Read Maia Sandu beat Alexandr Stoianoglo, despite suspicions of Russia meddling in the election
-
2024 race ends with swing state barnstormingSpeed Read Kamala Harris and Donald Trump held rallies in battlegrounds over the weekend
-
Five things you might not know about Quincy JonesIn the Spotlight From narrowly escaping the Manson Family murders to producing The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, his cultural imprint extended far beyond music
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriageSpeed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
-
Trump and his lawyer Alina Habba have a rough day in defamation courtSpeed Read Trump's audible grousing as E. Jean Carroll testified earned him a warning he could be thrown out of court, and Habba showed she 'doesn't know what the hell she's doing'
-
Anders Breivik to testify in prison isolation lawsuit against NorwaySpeed Read Far-right fanatic who killed 77 people in 2011 claims he has received 'inhuman treatment' in custody
