Sorry, Chuck, But Justice Kennedy Doesn't Need Your Help Choosing A Retirement Date

The concept of any SCOTUS justice taking retirement advice from a politician is 'laughable.'

onMay 17, 2018 at 4:01 PMMay 17, 2018 at 2:42 PM

Grassley wants you gone, ASAP.

To think that the justices need retirement advice from the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the president, or any other elected official is laughable.

Grassley is essentially urging one justice in particular—Anthony Kennedy—to retire now before the 2018 midterm elections to guarantee that a majority Republican Senate will be able to control the confirmation process and approve his replacement without any Democratic votes if necessary. Of course Kennedy already knows this and Grassley knows that Kennedy already knows this.

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From Pilot and Above The Law

Of course the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee does not possess the kind of powers a president does when it comes to inducing departures. That is why Grassley has resorted to one of the few tools at his disposal: public pressure.

— Professor Artemus Ward of Northern Illinois University, offering his thoughts on Senator Chuck Grassley’s very public cry for a Supreme Court justice (i.e., Justice Anthony M. Kennedy) to announce retirement as soon as possible.

Staci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.