Retirement of Supreme Court justice gives Trump a chance make court more staunchly conservative
Washington — Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is retiring after three decades as a pivotal vote on the highest US judicial body. His retirement gives President Donald Trump an opportunity to make the court more firmly conservative. Kennedy, who turns 82 in July and is the second-oldest justice on the nine-member court, has become one of the most consequential American jurists since joining the court in 1988 as an appointee of Republican president Ronald Reagan. A traditional conservative, he advanced gay rights, buttressed abortion rights and erased political spending limits. His retirement, which takes effect on July 31, gives Trump a second Supreme Court appointment in his 17 months in office after the Republican president in 2017 selected Neil Gorsuch, who has already become one of the most conservative justices. Kennedy, mild-mannered and professorial, sometimes joined the liberal justices on key rulings, earning a reputation as the court’s "swing" vote who heartened conser...
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