Justice Kennedy just gave liberals a huge ray of hope for Christmas

[applegrove]

IAN MILLHISER at Think Progress

https://thinkprogress.org/justice-kennedy-christmas-hope-419d125e3fd6/

"SNIP........


There are persistent rumors, often spread by extraordinarily well-connected lawyers and political operatives, that Justice Anthony Kennedy is pondering retirement. The justice himself has, at times, fueled these rumors.

Kennedy, an 81 year-old conservative, is the closet thing the Supreme Court has to a swing vote. Should President Donald Trump pick Kennedy’s replacement, the law would almost certainly lurch right on a wide range of subjects, from abortion to racial justice, marriage equality, and gerrymandering.

Yet, as Above the Law’s David Lat reports, Kennedy has hired a full complement of four law clerks for the Court’s 2018-19 term. Active associate justices are allowed to hire four clerks, while retired justices hire just one. Kennedy hired a single clerk last summer. The fact that this clerk now has three compatriots suggests that Kennedy has not made the decision to retire for at least another term.

It should be noted that Kennedy can make the decision to leave the Court at any time, so the fact that he is now staffing up for another Supreme Court term does not guarantee that he will remain. But the fact that Kennedy now has a full complement of clerks lined up for another year should offer hope to anyone who does not want Trump to have any more control over who sits on the Supreme Court of the United States.

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[InAbLuEsTaTe]

1. Here's hoping the Racist-in-Chief gets ZERO more S.Ct. Justice picks.

[mr_liberal]

3. That's good news.

I was convinced he would retire Summer 2018.

I still think he could retire for Trump because he is a republican, but he also cares about civil liberties and he actually owes his seat to democrats who stopped Bork.

Maybe he'll wait until after the 2018 midterms and give Democrats a chance to take back the senate. That would be exactly the way it was when he was nominated and would be the best chance of leading to another judge similar to him.

[Gothmog]

4. Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: Are Reports Of Justice Kennedys Retirement Greatly Exaggerated?

Here is a link to the Above the Law article https://abovethelaw.com/2017/12/supreme-court-clerk-hiring-watch-are-reports-of-justice-kennedys-retirement-greatly-exaggerated/

And if he were to decide to retire before OT 2018, he wouldn’t have to fret too much about “orphaning” his hires. These high-powered legal eagles would likely find homes with other justices, per SCOTUS tradition. (And one of them could still clerk for the retired Justice Kennedy; retired justices get one clerk each, who assists the retired justice with various projects and gets “farmed out” to the chambers of an active justice too.)

But still, the news of these AMK hires is notable. It doesn’t guarantee that Justice Kennedy is staying past the current Term, but it certainly suggests that he’s open to the possibility. And considering how confidently people have been talking about AMK’s very imminent retirement, even the slightest indication that he might be sticking around for longer is very newsworthy.

In any event, congratulations to Justice Kennedy’s latest hires. An offer to clerk for a justice of the United States Supreme Court is a Christmas present without peer!