President Trump will soon get to nominate a new Supreme Court Justice because Anthony M. Kennedy will retire this summer after serving on the high court for more than three decades. Justice Kennedy said he wishes to spend more time with his family and that his retirement will take effect on July 31.
Justice Kennedy, who was appointed by then-President Ronald Reagan in 1987, said in his announcement,
“It has been the greatest honor and privilege to serve our nation in the federal judiciary for 43 years, 30 of those years on the Supreme Court.”
President Trump said he will immediately begin the search for a nominee to replace the justice, with the Senate voting this fall on the president's nominee to fill the vacancy.
“Hopefully, we will pick somebody who will be as outstanding” as Justice Kennedy, said the president.
Justice Kennedy has received much praise and recognition after announcing his retirement but some pro-life advocates saw Justice Kennedy as a 'blockade to overruling Roe v. Wade', the case that legalized abortion in 1973, and will be glad to see him replaced.
“Now that Justice Anthony Kennedy — a 25-year defender of abortion on the Supreme Court and the key vote to perpetuate Roe v. Wade — is retiring, we urge President Trump to nominate a committed constitutionalist to the Supreme Court,” said Catherine Glenn Foster, president of Americans United for Life.
Some Republican lawmakers fear that the reshuffling of members on the Supreme Court could have a 'trickle-down effect on their legislation' and could further divide the country.
“The role he has played on the Supreme Court, as a conscientious moderate whose influence was felt over and over in close decisions, has changed millions of people’s lives,” said Nan Aron, president of the progressive Alliance for Justice. “The stakes for the Court now could not be higher.”
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