Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, 81, who reportedly considered retiring last spring, is rumored to be possibly resigning from his position soon.
“I don’t think he would have hired all four clerks for next year if he was seriously entertaining stepping down,” said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond School of Law professor. “I just don’t think it’s going to happen.”
Ian Samuel, a lecturer on law at Harvard Law who clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, stated that the small number of cases the court has granted could signal Kennedy is throwing in the towel.
According to The Hill, the court agreed to hear only 15 cases during the next term.
“One possibility is they are not granting cases because they don’t know who their ninth member is going to be. … You could imagine Kennedy telling the chief, ‘I’d like to keep this between us, but I’d like to retire,’ and the chief saying, ‘Let’s see who Kennedy’s replacement is before we grant all these cases,’” Samuel said.
When his wife was spotted in the courtroom on April 25, the press corps rumors started about whether she was there to hear her husband’s last round of questioning from the bench.
But SCOTUS blog’s Mark Walsh reported that the wives of Breyer, Alito, and Gorsuch were seated in the VIP section too.
Republicans have been waiting for Kennedy to retire, which would give the GOP’s Senate majority time to confirm his replacement before the midterm elections.
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Dean Heller announced in a speech in March that “Kennedy will retire sometime around early summer.”
And last week Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt he hopes a retirement is announced soon if there’s one coming.
“I hope it’s now or within two or three weeks because we’ve got to get this done before the election,” he said, adding a specific message to the justices: “If you’re thinking about quitting this year, do it yesterday.”
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