GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The retirement of U.S. Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy is sending political shock waves across the country. Wednesday's announcement is paving the way for a political battle in the U.S. Senate for the confirmation of whomever president Trump selects to take Kennedy's place on the bench.
Kennedy, 81, has been on the nation's highest court for 30 years, and his retirement will be official until July 31, 2018.
"Justice Kennedy was very much the conscious of the court," says constitutional professor Devin Schindler at WMU Cooley Law School. "His legacy is going to be the passion he showed for protecting minorities, the passion he showed for protecting our individual rights."
Kennedy's departure gives President Trump the chance to alter the nation's highest court for decades to come.
"I can guarantee you that whoever President Trump picks is going to be more of a conservative and someone that has a more restrictive view of individual rights than Justice Kennedy," says Schindler.
The name of the president's selection is anybody's guess, but getting the nomination approved by the Senate could bring a political fight.
“Democrats are going to be feeling the pressure from all over the country from their voters to put on the shoulder pads and helmets and fight," says Donald Zinman, Grand Valley State University associate professor of political science.
Republicans are going to insist on the confirmation process be carried out as quickly as possible, while Democrats try to delay until after the midterm elections.
“The implications are very large, and we are right in the middle of an election year," says Calvin College political science professor Doug Koopman. "And it's going to be talked about and debated and fought all the way through until the final vote."
Kennedy was President Reagan's final appointed justice. Appointed for life, justices don't always rule along party lines.
“Chief Justice Roberts didn’t always vote with the conservatives," says Zinman. "And there’s been times the liberals haven’t always voted together, either."
And this may not be the only justice to retire in the next few years. When considering their respective ages, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 85, and Justice Stephen Breyer is 79. Both are progressive, and if either retires soon, the high court could swing heavily on the conservative side.
