BREAKING: Justice Kennedy Retiring from Supreme Court
Peter D'Abrosca
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An Associate Supreme Court Justice who has served on the Court since 1988 has just announced his retirement.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy will retire, effective July 31 of this year, according to a press release.
“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,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy, the notoriously centrist Justice, trashed President Donald J. Trump in a decision to uphold the President’s ban on travel from predominantly Muslim nations.
“There are numerous instances in which the statements and actions of government officials are not subject to judicial scrutiny or intervention,” Kennedy wrote. “That does not mean those officials are free to disregard the Constitution and the rights it proclaims and protects.”
He was one of three “conservative” Justices to uphold the decision in Roe V. Wade, a controversial case that essentially legalized abortion, in a 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
“At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.” From the founders’ belief in “created equal” [by God], this language travels to the furthest opposite pole of individual self-definition, verging on self-creation,” Kennedy and his concurring Justices wrote in their opinion in Casey.Â
“This moment is the biggest moment of the Trump Presidency so far,” said Chris Wallace on Fox News. “Anthony Kennedy was the swing vote who often decided whether the conservatives won, or sometimes, not as often the liberals prevailed, especially on social issues.”
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