I don’t recall another Supreme Court justice announcing that the timing of her or his retirement hinged on who was president, even though we all know this is the undercurrent, barring mitigating circumstances. But Justice Anthony Kennedy has said it out loud, telling his inner circle he doesn’t want President Barack Obama to be The One. Thanks surely in part to Obama’s big mouth, as explained below, Kennedy’s replacement will loom large as a rallying cry for both parties in the 2012 presidential election. It appears the next president will choose the next SC vote that could either overturn or continue to uphold Roe v. Wade . And not withstanding the 2008 election, it is the Republican Party that usually gathers more steam/$$ from such a prospect/threat. As an aside, Senate Republicans should take this development into consideration and show themselves worthy of voter support for what will be the mother of all SC nomination battles. It is not too late to pick themselves up off the floor, where they have been New York Daily News , July 6… … Kennedy, who turns 74 this month, has told relatives and friends he plans to stay on the high court for at least 3 more years – through the end of Obama’s 1st term, sources said…. That means Kennedy will be around to provide a 5th vote for the court’s conservative bloc through the 2012 presidential election. If Obama loses, Kennedy could retire and expect a Republican President to choose a conservative justice. Kennedy, appointed by President Ronald Reagan , has been on the court 22 years. He has become a bit of a political nemesis at the White House for his increasing tendency to side with the court’s 4 rock-ribbed conservative justices . Without naming Kennedy, Obama was unusually critical of his majority opinion in the Citizens United case, handed down last January. That 5-4 decision struck down limits on contributions to political campaigns as an abridgement of free speech. Obama… was so angry that he took the unusual step of blasting the decision in his Jan. 27 State of the Union address, with Kennedy and five other justices looking on…. With the retirement of fellow Stanford graduate Sandra Day O’Connor in 2006, Kennedy has inherited O’Connor’s mantle as the court’s swing vote. His voting pattern suggests he’s actually become a far more reliable vote for the conservatives. In a piece entitled, “The fury of an idiot scorned,” Red State Insider at
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Thanks, Obama: Justice Kennedy’s Replacement to Loom Large in 2012 Presidential Election
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