Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says Justice Anthony Kennedy was passionate about the Constitution and the court.
“It is undeniable that he has had a monumental effect on the law,” she said in a statement.
She continued: “I have witnessed his love and dedication to his family and know that he will cherish spending more time with them. I will miss working with him dearly, but I know he will continue to be a roaring lion, even as he takes senior status.”
Justice Elena Kagan also weighed in on Kennedy’s retirement.
Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens described his disappointment over Justice Anthony Kennedy’s decision to retire because he said the jurist “will not be easily replaced.”
“Tony Kennedy was, and is, a close friend,” Stevens said. “We have retained that close friendship since my retirement, and I continue to admire his independence, the high quality of his judicial work, and his devotion to the mission of the court.”
He continued:
Supreme Court Justices Samuel A. Alito and Stephen G. Breyer said they will miss working with Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced his retirement on Wednesday.
Breyer also described Kennedy as “a judge of great vision.”
“His knowledge of the Constitution is profound,” Breyer said. “He is thoughtful and careful in his decision-making, and he has made it a great pleasure for all of us to work together with him.”
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who has served on the bench for 25 years, described Justice Anthony Kennedy as a “caring jurist.”
In a statement, she said she’ll miss Kennedy’s company and recommendations for art exhibitions to see.
“Justice Kennedy is a true gentleman, a caring jurist, and a grand colleague in all respects,” he said. “I will miss the pleasure of his company at our Conference table, his helpful suggestions on circulating opinions, his recommendations of art exhibitions to visit with my chambers staff, and much more.”
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch praised Justice Anthony Kennedy for his years of service on the bench.
Gorsuch, who worked as Kennedy’s law clerk 25 years ago, said in a statement that Kennedy was a “model of civility, judicial temperament, and kindness.”
Read his statement:
The Republicans’ goal — as of now — is to hold a confirmation hearing for a new Supreme Court nominee around Labor Day, a congressional source told CNN.
The goal is to get the nominee in place for the start of the fall term, which begins the first Tuesday in October, the source said.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy brought “wise counsel” through his teachings on the rule of law.
In a statement, he said Kennedy’s “jurisprudence prominently features an abiding commitment to liberty and the personal dignity of every person.”
“Justice Kennedy taught collegiality and civil discourse by example,” Roberts said.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas described Justice Anthony Kennedy as a “wonderful colleague” and “consummate gentleman.”
In a statement, Thomas said Kennedy has been “unfailingly civil and Kind” to his fellow Supreme Court justices.
Here’s Thomas’ full statement:
The court opening is likely to drastically alter both parties’ approaches to November’s midterm elections. Republicans, in particular, hope the vacancy activates a base that the party has worried would sit out this year’s contests.
The timing couldn’t be worse for the five Democratic senators up for re-election in states Trump won by double digits: Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester of Montana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
If those five vote against Trump’s nominee, they’ll hand Republicans a potent issue to hammer them with. If they vote for the nominee, they risk severe retribution from within the Democratic Party.
A large majority of respondents to a spring 2017 Quinnipiac poll, taken just after Trump’s first nominee, Neil Gorsuch, was confirmed, said the process of confirming Supreme Court justices has become too partisan – with 68% saying so, compared with 13% who said it’s the “right amount” of partisanship.
The poll also showed:
In February of that year, a majority (56%) said Republicans were wrong to block Obama’s nominee. But a majority (65%) also said Democrats would be wrong to not allow a vote on Gorsuch.
Vice President Mike Pence, thanking Justice Anthony Kennedy for his service on the Supreme Court, just tweeted that President Trump “will nominate a strong conservative, in the tradition of the late Justice Scalia, who will uphold all the God-given liberties enshrined in the Constitution of the United States.”
See it:
Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, took to Twitter today to urge Republican lawmakers to oppose any Supreme Court nominee who will “deny women the right to choose.”
Here’s Sanders’ tweet:
Why Sanders thinks this is important
Today, Supreme Court Anthony Kennedy announced that he would be retiring from the bench next month. Kennedy voted to reaffirm the core holding of Roe v. Wade in 1992, only to vote to uphold a federal ban on a particular abortion procedure in 2007.
CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said Kennedy’s retirement will have a major impact on the court and its future rulings, in particular, Roe v. Wade.
“You are going to see 20 states pass laws banning abortions outright … and because they know that there are now going to be five votes on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade,” he said.
Toobin said Roe v. Wade is “doomed … because Donald Trump won the election and because he’s going to have the chance to appoint two Supreme Court justices.”
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, speaking with reporters today, dismissed calls by Democrats to punt on a Supreme Court nominee until after the midterm elections.
He said there’s “plenty of precedent” to confirming a nominee in a midterm year, pointing to Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan’s 2010 confirmation.
Grassley said he didn’t know when he would have hearings, but that he hoped President Trump would pick a nominee from a list he has put together.
He said he learned about Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement announcement while taping an Iowa TV interview and he said that he didn’t know.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, urged Congress to wait until after the midterm elections to select a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Feinstein is the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which holds hearings on the nominees.
“There should be no consideration of a Supreme Court nominee until the American people have a chance to weigh in,” she said in a statement.
Read her full statement:
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer just spoke from the floor of the Senate and called the seat Justice Anthony Kennedy is leaving “the most important Supreme Court vacancy for this country in at least a generation.”
Schumer then called on Republicans to “follow the rule they set in 2016 – not to consider a Supreme Court justice in an election year.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already announced he intends to hold a vote confirming President Trump’s nominee this fall.
Watch:
Sen. Kamala Harris, a Democrat from California, called the President’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees “complete non-starters.”
Here’s why: “They are conservative ideologues, not mainstream jurists. We cannot and will not accept them to serve on the highest court in the land.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, urged President Trump to select a nominee with “intellect and commitment to the rule of law” to replace Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.
In a statement, Grassley hailed Kennedy’s service on the bench, saying he is a “staunch defender of First Amendment rights.”
This is Grassley’s full statement:
Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, said in a statement Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “set the new standard” waiting until after an upcoming election to fill SCOTUS vacancies.
He added, “With so much at stake for the people of our country, the U.S. Senate must be consistent and consider the President’s nominee once the new Congress is seated in January.”
But he’s not the only one.
Connecticut Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy told CNN, “It’s just absolutely hypocrisy for the majority leader to move forward on a vote now when he wasn’t willing to move it forward on a vote ahead of the 2016 election.”
Murphy added, “We hold Mitch McConnell to the precedent that he set in 2016. It’s not a precedent I agree with or agreed with but we should expect that he be consistent.”
Durbin reiterated his paper statement on camera to CNN, saying, “If we trust the American people to make a decision about the future of the Senate, we’ll hold off on filling this vacancy until after the election.”
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar tweeted the American people must have a say. Her full tweet reads, “#Justice Kennedy was a swing vote in a critical case that affirmed Roe v. Wade. He was a key vote on gay marriage. He cannot be replaced by an ideologue. The American people must have a say.”
And Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted, “Mitch McConnell should follow the Mitch McConnell rule. Let the American people have a say when women’s health and equal rights are on the line.”
U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, who is also a member of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, just released a statement calling on the Senate to wait to consider President Trump’s nominee to replace Justice Kennedy until the new Congress is seated in January.
He cited precedent set by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s refusal to hold a vote on Merrick Garland.
“Senator McConnell set the new standard by giving the American people their say in the upcoming election before Court vacancies are filled,” Durbin said. “With so much at stake for the people of our country, the U.S. Senate must be consistent and consider the President’s nominee once the new Congress is seated in January.”
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is set to retire by July 31. Here’s a short list of possible nominees who President Trump could select to replace him:
