Desperate Republican Warns Of Justice Anthony Kennedy's Retirement To Scare Up Votes

Sen. Dean Heller predicts Kennedy will retire 'this summer,' in an epic example of wishcasting.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy

Republicans are going to retain control of the Senate in 2018. I know that runs counter to the “blue wave” messaging that predicts white women will suddenly decide to not be partners in white supremacy, but the reality of the Senate map speaks for itself. Democrats are defending more seats, in many places where it’s hard for Democrats to win. Republicans are going to pick up seats. If you want to talk to me about resisting, you better be talking about secession as opposed to white women in Texas finding a moral center.

But that doesn’t mean every Republican will win. Dean Heller, Republican Senator from Nevada, faces a very tough re-election battle. You can tell he’s already desperate because of this report in Politico:

Dean Heller knows he’s the most vulnerable Republican senator in the country. But he thinks Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy might just help him hang on to his seat.

“Kennedy is going to retire around sometime early summer,” Heller predicted in Las Vegas last week, according to audio of an event he spoke at that was obtained by POLITICO. “Which I’m hoping will get our base a little motivated because right now they’re not very motivated. But I think a new Supreme Court justice will get them motivated.”

Yes, Justice Anthony Kennedy retiring would indeed help struggling Republican candidates. We know that the Republican base will turn out to vote based on the Supreme Court more than the Democratic base will turn out to do the same.

But Heller has no evidence to support his wish that Kennedy will quit and save his political prospects.

We do have some evidence that Kennedy will be sticking around for at least another year. As we reported back in December, Kennedy has already hired clerks for the 2018-2019 term.

Sponsored

Hiring a full slate of clerks doesn’t guarantee that Kennedy is staying. But it’s more evidence that he’s staying than anything Dean Heller has in the opposite direction. Heller’s political need for Kennedy’s imminent retirement is the news here, not any new information about Anthony Kennedy’s plans.

Which isn’t to say that people should get used to having Anthony Kennedy around. Kennedy is old and has made it pretty clear that he doesn’t want to die at work. He could change his mind. He could have hired clerks just to throw people off the scent. He could also, you know, die. Any of them could die. Sotomayor is a diabetic. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is probably nothing more than a Force hologram at this point. If Republicans retain control of the Senate — which they WILL — it’s incredibly likely that Trump will get to pick another Supreme Court justice.

But Dean Heller doesn’t have any inside information. He’s just a guy trying to figure out how to hang onto his job. In the words of Nice Guy Eddie: “If you f***** beat this prick long enough, he’ll tell you he started the goddamn Chicago fire, now that don’t necessarily make it f****** so!”

The endangered GOP senator who thinks Justice Kennedy could save him [Politico]

Earlier:

Sponsored


Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.