June 27, 2018

I was so sure there would be no announcement of a retirement on the Supreme Court's last day...

... that I walked away from the computer for over an hour and didn't even think of looking to see what happened.

Here's what SCOTUSblog said, responding to the question "any sign of Kennedy retiring?"
He did not announce a retirement from the bench before the justices adjourned. Some justices (O'Connor and Brennan are two examples) have announced retirements over the summer, fwiw.
Here's how you voted on my poll while we were waiting for the Court to get through its announcements:



UPDATE: This post is funny now! I was so sure...

96 comments:

Beach Brutus said...

My impression is that none of the likely retirees want Trump to have a strong hand in appointing their successor, so they will await the outcome of the mid-terms. If the democrats make substantial gains in the Senate so that trump will have to compromise to get an nomination approved, then one or maybe two may announce retirement. If the Republicans hold their position or gain strength, then they may hang around two more years.

Z said...

Beach Brutus is 100% correct, in my opinion.....Any liberal SCOTUS Justice would get such flack for opening up to a Trump nomination should he/she retire now that they'd probably not want to end their careers there on that note. I think, also, that the Dems wouldn't want the hoopla of fights in Congress over name after name nominated by Trump (it'll be a miracle if it goes smoothly) to get in the way of attacking Republicans on other issues before the MidTerms, though I think Justice selection could draw real clear lines about what the Reps and Dems stand for.......or don't. And that could work in the favor of the Reps.

traditionalguy said...

Kennedy's decision is blowing in the wind. How many swing votes can a hair splitter from hell swing before he kisses Da Trump's ring.
Putin next up for headline fodder.

Achilles said...

Kennedy is waiting for the moat and the auto cannon defense system to repel the democrat animals that will be after him after today to be finished on his retirement home.

traditionalguy said...

Kennedy probably wants to half resign.

Matt Sablan said...

"Kennedy probably wants to half resign."

-- It matters if resigning is or is not a tax.

Michael K said...

If the democrats make substantial gains in the Senate so that trump will have to compromise to get an nomination approved, then one or maybe two may announce retirement.

Good observation. But that will be into the next term so no retirement until a year from now.

YoungHegelian said...

@Z,

Any liberal SCOTUS Justice would get such flack for opening up to a Trump nomination should he/she retire now

You got that right. Just imagine if Trump wins in 2020. I think we'll see a couple of justices make hasty visits to Haiti so that they can be properly zombified to last out the term. I can just imagine the reporting from Linda Greenhouse of the NYT now:

"Justice Ginsburg grunted out several questions during oral arguments, only one of which dealt with her recent favorite topic "Braaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiinnnsssssss!". She also seem completely unperturbed by the fact that one of her fingers had come off and was lying on the bench in front of her."

Fabi said...

YoungHegelian scared my dog at 10:59 AM. Snort out loud and scare the dog funny.

Original Mike said...

They’ll have to be carried out.

Achilles said...

Beach Brutus said...

My impression is that none of the likely retirees want Trump to have a strong hand in appointing their successor, so they will await the outcome of the mid-terms. If the democrats make substantial gains in the Senate so that trump will have to compromise to get an nomination approved, then one or maybe two may announce retirement. If the Republicans hold their position or gain strength, then they may hang around two more years.


Over under on republicans in the senate after the midterms is 57.

They should get 61.

They should make RBG write her own opinions.

rcocean said...

So, the news is that Kennedy is NOT retiring and MAY retire sometime. Maybe.

Okey-dokey.

In other news, McConnnell just confirmed for the 100th time that he will NOT get rid of the filibuster.

Also, polls show either the R or the D's leading in November.

Lots of pre-reporting going on.

rcocean said...

On BHTV several of the "Heads" are already talking about who will run in 2020 and whether Trump will win.

That's pre-preporting

rcocean said...

I'm astounded that Ginsberg is 85, and Kennedy is 82.

It seems like Kennedy should be much older.

BTW, Sotomayor is turning into an embarrassment. Read her concurrence in the union dissenting opinion.

She needs to quite the bench, and run for office.

FullMoon said...

Well, gee whiz, maybe time for all the crazy kkk nazi, bigot, sexist misogynist war mongering hateful racist alt right Trumpists to start harassing Ginsburg and Kennedy every where they go.. And their children and grandchildren. Alinsky/Progressive/Waters their asses..

dreams said...

I don't think Kennedy is going to retire over the summer.

dreams said...

The Republicans are going to win in Nov.

tim maguire said...

Maybe this ancient grasping crew will inspire us to finally get that constitutional amendment setting a mandatory retirement age.

Yancey Ward said...

The only justice I think might retire this Summer is Thomas, but I think it far more likely none will.

Vance said...

So Thomas is 70, and 2nd in seniority on the court, behind Roberts who is Chief Justice. If Ginsburg is mid 80's, does that mean Thomas has another 10 years on the Court? I hope so!

I met him back in school. One of his former clerks was a prof at my law school (now on the Utah Supreme Court and on the short list to be put on the US Supreme Court, apparently, if one of these fossils dies), and he invited Thomas out every couple of years for a while.

Thomas appeared to love it. A school where people actually liked him instead of railed at him like Yale or Harvard. He was a great guy.

J. Farmer said...

It’s Kennedy.

Browndog said...

Kennedy to retire.

I'm not tired.

tim in vermont said...

So I was right with “You never know”!

eric said...

Just announced Kennedy will retire.

tim in vermont said...

This is hysterical. I may have to drop my beloved sock puppet for this one.

Alcibiades said...

Hah! Ann gets it wrong. He's retired!

Z said...

WOW! And Kennedy's leaving July 31!?
THIS IS SO ENORMOUS.........
And all hell is now going to break loose......

Ralph L said...

Althouse went out pub crawling too soon.

John Borell said...

Boom goes the dynamite!

And I correctly voted yes in the poll.

MayBee said...

And yet......


Wowza!

reader said...

Christmas in June!

gspencer said...

Leftists brushing the cobwebs off of the old Bork Smear Machine without realizing that the internet has made the BSM obsolete.

Original Mike said...

I voted No.

Oops.

Michael K said...

Whoops !

In a statement, the Supreme Court said the 80-year-old Kennedy will step down effective July 31. The judge called it "the greatest honor and privilege to serve our nation in the federal judiciary for 43 years, 30 of those years in the Supreme Court." Kennedy wants to spend more time with his family, even though they were content with him staying on the court.

The election will come just about the time the votes will be made.

Earnest Prole said...

Oopsie-poopsie.

Mr. D said...

Game on!

Big Mike said...

Seven percent of us were right. I’m not one of them.

gspencer said...

Ruth Buzzy may now give it up as well. With Kennedy leaving the count will now become dependably 5-4. Almost as a certainty. The swing stuff is gone. She may look at Trump's popularity, the general upbeat tenor of the country, and say, "What's the point?" What should do it for her will be the results in November. If the Ds lose even more, look for her to pack it in.

The Vault Dweller said...

I'm happy to say I voted on that poll and I am a member of the always wise, non-committal, firm maybe caucus. Had anyone else other than Kennedy announced retirement I would have been emotionally devastated in my predictive powers. It would have felt like going to a Casino, playing roulette placing a $50 bet on both black and red, and then losing both bets.

clint said...

Woah. Didn't see that coming.

It's still replacing one of the five conservatives, but (1) the new justice will likely be thirty years younger than Kennedy and (2) Kennedy's the least conservative of the five, so unlike replacing Scalia with Gorsuch, this one can move the median justice.

Huuuge. Winning bigly.

FullMoon said...

Oh, my ! End to abortion. Segregated schools again, WW3, women back in the kitchen, gays back in closet or executed,white power, un married mothers shunned death penalty for minor crimes..
Now the right leaning judges in danger of assassination.

Unknown said...

Er, I'm afraid this posting is no longer operative. Lol

Antiantifa said...

RBG will never quit as long as there is a Republican in the White House.

jimbino said...

So Kennedy is retiring. We lose a Roman Catholic, schooled for one year at the London School of Economics. One of the few who has a clue about Economics.

I propose that Trump nominate a non-Jew, non-Catholic, non-humanities major for Justice who is schooled in STEM, like Neil DeGrasse Tyson, to bring reason and science to the science-ignorant and religious Supreme Court.

Levi Starks said...

It’s peak derangement over at NPR

Mike Sylwester said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Levi Starks said...

Please, Please President Trump find a conservative Asian woman to nominate... preferably one whose children are being denied entrance to an Ivy League college because “ diversity “ ...

Mike Sylwester said...

President Trump's obvious choice will be Michael Cohen.

FullMoon said...

Not a believer, but called the number, asked for Kennedy to quit, Winning !
Calling back to ask for lottery numbers.

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Matt Sablan said...

Huh. I didn't think he'd announce retiring until after the midterms to keep it from being an issue.

Drago said...

The Left:

Elaine Atwell Verified account
@ElaineAtwell

we may have just left the point at which we could rely on democratic norms to fix our government, and are now on the road to literal revolution! #kennedy
11:09 AM - 27 Jun 2018

And there you have it......

johns said...

Drago: that's right. once again, the Left decides that democracy is just too inconvient

Matt Sablan said...

What is meant by "literal revolution" there?

Trumpit said...

Whoever Trump nominates will be bad for We The People. The Democrats must hold up his pick until Trump is out of office. The Supreme Ct. can function with 8 justices, four bad ones, and four good ones. Somebody needs to give more vitamins to Ginsberg to allow her to serve until Trump is thrown out. Putin, Comey, and, of course, the Deplorables, Trump, the GOP, and five bad Supreme Court Justices have destroyed America without firing a shot. I hope George H.W. Bush dies soon for having put idiot Thomas on the Supreme Court when Marshall resigned in 1991.

Michael K said...

Blogger Levi Starks said...
Please, Please President Trump find a conservative Asian woman to nominate..


Good thought. I have wanted Janice Rogers Brown nominated as she was blocked by Democrats who did not want Bush to name the first black woman.

Sadly, she is too old now.

Here's one.

Upon graduation from law school in 1984, Cantil was unable to find a job in law, so she became a blackjack dealer in Reno, Nevada.[14] At the time, the Sacramento County Public Defender's Office had refused to hire her because of her young age

Then Deukmejian appointed her judge. She is Chief Justice the CA Supreme Court,

May not be conservative enough.

Michael K said...

I hope George H.W. Bush dies soon for having put idiot Thomas on the Supreme Court when Marshall resigned in 1991.

Crazy racist trumpit is an authority on Thomas' opinions, like Harry Reid.

Michael K said...

who is schooled in STEM, like Neil DeGrasse Tyson, to bring reason and science to the science-ignorant and religious Supreme Court.

JESUS !

Is that you trumpit ?

Anonymous said...

Well, Kennedy's retirement becomes a battle royale now. Expect Mueller to issue a referral for impeachment based on a flimsy obstruction claim before September 1st. That becomes the non-stop chatterers bell cow for the rest of the summer and early fall. We can't have a supreme court nomination go forward with this cloud hanging over the country! No more nominees until Mueller's case is processed!

Michael K said...

We can't have a supreme court nomination go forward with this cloud hanging over the country! No more nominees until Mueller's case is processed!

I wouldn't put it past him. The hive is all Hillary fangirls and boys.

Trumpit said...

@Michael K,
You know all to well that:
Bad Doctors = Bad Medicine = Unnecessary Deaths, or Murders
Your former patients knew that all too well, as well.
How can you troll this blog with so much pain medication in your system? You're destroying your liver; you don't deserve a "free" liver transplant; the right thing is to let you die.

JAORE said...

Neil DeGrasse Tyson, to bring reason and science

Michael K nailed this one. Wow....

dreams said...

"I voted No.

Oops."

Me too, but I'm glad I was wrong.

dreams said...

"Neil DeGrasse Tyson, to bring reason and science"

He has too much to worry about already with global warming.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Gonna get tired of all this winning, probably. It's a real danger.

Qwinn said...

Once again, I nominate Miguel Estrada.

I want every single argument made against his pick to be met with the "because... he is Latino" Democrat memo.

Michael K said...

the right thing is to let you die.

Crazies like you get me to buy more ammunition.

You really need help.

FullMoon said...

Ginsberg, Kagan, Sotamayer resign in protest !

Michael K said...


Blogger Qwinn said...
Once again, I nominate Miguel Estrada.


I think he moved on and has a big time private practice but you never know.

He is younger than Janice Rogers Brown who would be my favorite. Maybe if Trump gets one more. I think she is 65 now.

Clyde said...

I said in the earlier post that there wouldn't be a retirement announcement. I stand corrected!

The Vault Dweller said...

Blogger Michael K said...
who is schooled in STEM, like Neil DeGrasse Tyson, to bring reason and science to the science-ignorant and religious Supreme Court.

JESUS !

Is that you trumpit ?


Neil DeGrasse Tyson, did get at least a BS maybe even a masters in Astronomy. And he did do real scientific work I believe analyzing Doppler shifts of different stars. Poo pooing him completely is unfair.

Now Al Gore, mocking that turd polishing huckster is always fair game.

NYC JournoList said...

Time to nominate a minority or woman to take a Kennedy’s seat. Make their heads spin!

NYC JournoList said...

Perhaps an asian who was rejected by Harvard?

The Vault Dweller said...

I think she is 65 now.

I don't think the Senate would accept someone that old. They want someone who can be there 30 years. Which means someone in their mid-50's is already pushing near the upper limit.

Qwinn said...

I'd be perfectly happy with JRB too.

But I still relish the thought of having that memo, which was utterly ignored when it was leaked (other than "the content of the memo is immaterial, who should go to jail for leaking this!?!??") become something Trump can tweet about daily.

Clyde said...

Michael K said...
who is schooled in STEM, like Neil DeGrasse Tyson, to bring reason and science to the science-ignorant and religious Supreme Court.

JESUS !

Is that you trumpit ?


I'm surprised he didn't go with Bill Nye the Science Guy.

tim in vermont said...

for Justice who is schooled in STEM, like Neil DeGrasse Tyson, to bring reason and science to the science-ignorant...

LO Fucking L!

Michael K said...

JRB is 68 and has retired form the bench.

It is a terrible injustice that her nomination was filibustered.

She would have been a great Justice, unlike the two fools on the court now, senile RBG and the "wise Latina."

tim in vermont said...

The Soviet Union was the big experiment in governing though scientific principles. How did that work out for them? I think the best comment from a former resident of the Soviet Union, when asked if it was really like the books said, he said “No. You can close a book and put it down.”

Z said...

I just hope against hope that whoever gets picked is FAIR, a strict Constitutionalist, and not an ideologue...

Michael K...so you want a teacher/lecturer for SCOTUS Justice or someone who understands THE LAW and THE CONSTITUTION??? Ya, as Clyde says, Why not Bill Nye the Science guy? GEEEZ!

Larry J said...

Liberal moonbat behavior is going to get cranked up to 13 just in time for the election.

Michael K said...

Tyson makes me think of BUsh's comment about the soft bigotry of low expectations.

dreams said...

It's going to be fun, I can't wait to see who Trump picks. The liberal Dems are going to be experiencing some real pain but it's for the good of our country.

cubanbob said...

Why wait for the fall? Trump should find a replacement ASAP and force the Senate to vote. And while he is at it, force the issue with district court judges making national rulings with respects to the illegal immigration rulings a district court just made in spite of Justice Thomas admonition.

Howard said...

I have to admit, Trump was right. I'm officially tired of so much winning! The democrats only have themselves to blame. The one-two punch of the Obamacare overreach that cost them the senate in 2014 and the nomination of Hitlery.

brylun said...

For the record, I voted yes for Kennedy. And before the announcement.

brylun said...

For the first time in a long time, I'm watching CNN and enjoying it!

CStanley said...

So in a matter of minutes Justice Kennedy stepped down from his position as the most influential person in US government and two women take is place- Murkowski and Collins, our swing senators, on whom Trump's successful 2nd SCOTUS justice confirmation rides.

Drago said...

Howard: "I have to admit, Trump was right. I'm officially tired of so much winning! The democrats only have themselves to blame. The one-two punch of the Obamacare overreach that cost them the senate in 2014 and the nomination of Hitlery."

This is no time to start making perfect sense.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

cubanbob said...Why wait for the fall? Trump should find a replacement ASAP and force the Senate to vote.

The Court's next term starts 1 October, right?
Announce nominee next week, have hearings scheduled for August, vote late August...seat in time for new term!

Although..that's one of those "if Republicans were smart" things, I guess. I don't put it past them to find a way to screw that up, no sir. Add Trumpian unpredictability & propensity to harm his own cause and you've got yourself an interesting summer, at least.

brylun said...

How will the red state Senate Democrats vote on President Trump's nominee? Will their vote affect their re-election?

brylun said...

Brett Kavanaugh and Raymond Kethledge are former Kennedy clerks.

BJM said...

Lefty Twitter is very worked up over Kennedy's retirement before the mid-terms...will he be publicly shunned and chased from restaurants as a traitor?

Big Mike said...

Alleged comedian Curtis Cook tweets the following:

“I wish this Kennedy had been shot instead of the other ones.”

Keep it classy Democrats.

Trumpit said...

She would have been a great Justice, unlike the two fools on the court now, senile RBG and the "wise Latina."

A senile RBG is a better justice than the 4 remaining right-wing troglodytes on the bench. You, an apeman troll with indelible blood stains on your white coat, are the teeter-tottering village idiot around here. Your "wise Latina" remark shows how Archie Bunker-like you are.

becauseIdbefired said...

Trumpit Sez:
> The Democrats must hold up his pick until Trump is out of office.


"Thanks to all of you who encouraged me to consider filibuster reform. It had to be done."

--Senator Reid

No, thank you.

--Sean Davis

Seen on Twitter.

Michael K said...

trumpit.

Still crazy after all these years.