Posted on 06/27/2018 6:56:04 AM PDT by Red Badger
The Supreme Court is expected to end its term on Wednesday with one final major case challenging public sector union fees left to decide.
The most anticipated decision of the year came Tuesday, when the court in a 5-4 decision upheld Trump's travel ban.
That's led to some speculation that a retirement announcement could happen on Wednesday, though there is no hard evidence one is coming.
The speculation for the last year has centered on the court’s swing voter Justice Anthony Kennedy, but some have pondered if Justice Clarence Thomas is actually going to be the one to call it quits.
But previous court terms have also featured people guessing about retirements -- and then it doesn’t come to pass.
The last retirement from the bench was in 2010. Justice John Paul Stevens, an appointee of President Ford, was 89 when he wrote to the president in April 2010 of his plans to retire at the end of June.
If the White House has been notified, it has not been made public.
In a piece for Slate, Richard Hasen, a professor at the University of California–Irvine School of Law, said Kennedy’s concurring opinion on Tuesday signals he’s done.
Kennedy seemed to warn Trump in a two-page ruling not to make public statements that could infringe on the Constitution’s protections for freedom of religion after the court set aside his anti-Muslim remarks in upholding the ban.
“Indeed, the very fact that an official may have broad discretion, discretion free from judicial scrutiny, makes it all the more imperative for him or her to adhere to the Constitution and to its meaning and its promise,” he wrote.
Hasen said that separate concurrence felt like a Kennedy mic drop.
“He’s done all that he can do to fix the problems in American society,” he wrote. “Now it’s up to those in power, and those who put them there.”
Leah Litman, an assistant professor of law at the University of California – Irvine School of Law, who clerked for Kennedy, said she had the same reaction to Kennedy’s concurrency in the ruling.
.@rickhasen makes a gloomy day even gloomier (FWIW, I had a similar reaction to AMK's weird concurrence in Trump v. Hawaii, but some other clerks felt differently): https://t.co/VpMjJ7RtZz — Leah Litman (@LeahLitman) June 26, 2018
But not everyone’s convinced a retirement is imminent.
Ian Samuel, a Climenko Fellow and lecturer at Harvard Law School, said he doesn’t think the timing of the travel ban ruling signals anything.
“The Chief is the one who sets opinion-release schedules and it’s just not his nature to tip his hand that way,” he said in an email to The Hill.
“Remember, Obergefell wasn’t released on the last day, either. Sometimes things are just ready.”
Obergefell, which gave same-sex couples the right to marry nationwide in 2015, was issued on June 26th. The court ended its term that year on June 29th. The justices return to the bench at 10 a.m. to issue their final rulings. Any retirement announcement would likely come after the decisions are released.
YES!!! Court holds that union fees violate “the free speech rights of nonmembers by compelling them to subsidize private speech on matters of substantial public concern.
IOW--We're manufacturing "news."
It would have been leaked.
I SO hope Kennedy or some other liberal retires!
Just to be fair, here's his criticism of Obama during his eight year term:
" "
Man what a zinger that was...
Anyone who remained silent during Obama's eight years, needs to zip it today. They have no credibility whatsoever.
IMO, only death or disability will cause any of the liberals to retire while Trump is in office.
“Kennedy seemed to warn Trump in a two-page ruling not to make public statements that could infringe on the Constitution’s protections for freedom of religion after the court set aside his anti-Muslim remarks in upholding the ban.”
Can anyone recall any remark Trump has made that actually critiques Islam? I’m sure he’s made many negative comments about Islamic terrorists, or people entering the country, etc but has he ever said or written anything that would infringe on Muslims’ freedom of religion?
SCOTUS retirement. Loretta Lynch: “That’s my seat, Bill promised it to me on the tarmac”
Any retiring supreme court judge with an iota of respect for the USA should step down immediately, giving President Trump time to install the replacement before the mid terms.
Has Kennedy been the deciding vote in 5 - 4 decision recently which angered Conservatives?
It wouldn’t happen until after the new year anyway.................
She will thus be approaching her 92nd birthday when Trump leaves office on January 20, 2025. If necessary, they will be wheeling her around with an oxygen mask strapped to her head. I believe it will come to that as she is bound and determined not to have Trump replace her.
What would be really funny would be if Mike Pence (or somebody even more conservative) took Trump's place.
“With the Supreme Court wrapping up its 2017 term this week, the possibility that one (or more) of the nine justices might announce their retirement has come up again.”
“IMO, only death or disability will cause any of the liberals to retire while Trump is in office. “
Ginsburg has been dead for years but doesn’t know it, and Sotomayor is a couple of tequila sours away from another bad fall.
We'd have to use the nuclear option.
Kennedy has been good on the 2nd amendment so I’ll give him a pass.
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