Justice Kennedy: No Rush to Leave

[QueEx]

<font size="4"><center>
Bad news for Obama: Conservative Justice Kennedy
tells pals he's in no rush to leave Supreme Court</font size></center>

BY Thomas M. Defrank
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF
Tuesday, July 6th 2010, 4:00 AM


<font size="3">WASHINGTON - President Obama may get liberal Elena Kagan on the Supreme Court, but conservative swing-voter Anthony Kennedy says he's not going anywhere anytime soon.</font size>

Justice Kennedy, who turns 74 this month, has told relatives and friends he plans to stay on the high court for at least three more years - through the end of Obama's first term, sources said.

That means Kennedy will be around to provide a fifth 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 four 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 called the ruling "a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power ... in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans."

He 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.

The White House has made Citizens United a populist rallying cry for Democrats, who hope to cut into projected Republican gains in the November elections by painting the GOP as guardians of the rich and powerful.

With the retirement of fellow Californian and 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.

A Supreme Court spokeswoman said Justice Kennedy would not comment.

tdefrank@nydailynews.com


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/pol..._pals_hes_not_retiring_for_years__thats_.html

 

[Upgrade Dave]

I understand the purpose of lifetime appointments but these guys and ladies should have more respect for what they do and represent to not sit there until they either die or on death's door before they retire.

 

[thoughtone]

Those who follow such things understand Kennedy will not step down during this current presidential term. However the next term would be more likely.

 

[Upgrade Dave]

Those who follow such things understand Kennedy will not step down during this current presidential term. However the next term would be more likely.

That's what's kept Ginsburg there all this time. If Bush had lost to Gore or Kerry, we would have had a replacement for her by now.

 

[QueEx]

Those who follow such things understand Kennedy will not step down during this current presidential term. However the next term would be more likely.

That's what's kept Ginsburg there all this time. If Bush had lost to Gore or Kerry, we would have had a replacement for her by now.

I agree. We were discussing this same theme in Obama will get another SCOTUS Pick, in 2010 ???:

I would be totally surprised to see a member of the conservative wing retire in this term, especially because a second Obama term is today, in serious doubt.

I know a lot of people who had hoped that Thurgood Marshall would not have retired during Bush I's term. As you may know, Marshall retired from the Court, in ill health, June 28, 1991 allowing his replacement to be selected by H.W. Bush: enter Clarence Thomas. H.W. was a one termer as Bill Clinton took office January 20th, of 1993. Marshall died 4 days later, January 24th, 1993. Of course, staying in office could have deprived him of the little private life he had left; though some might argue, so what?

Had Marshall not retired, arguably, the conservative-lean on the Court might not exist, today.

QueEx

 

[Upgrade Dave]

I agree. We were discussing this same theme in Obama will get another SCOTUS Pick, in 2010 ???:

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And recent history has shown that Justices have paid close attention to these things since.