Supreme Court Justice and swing vote Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement Wednesday, giving President Trump the chance to fill a second seat on the court in what could be the most closely watched confirmation battle in decades.
Nominated by President Reagan and confirmed in 1988, Kennedy was the pivotal vote in many landmark 5-4 cases, including ones involving abortion and same-sex marriage.
In 1992, he sided with a 5-4 majority to uphold Roe v. Wade and keep abortion legal nationwide. Then, 15 years later, he cast the deciding vote in a 5-4 decision that uphold a ban on partial-birth abortion.
He had a major impact advancing LGBT issues, too. He sided with major gay rights cases in 1996 (Romer v. Evans) and 2003 (Lawrence v. Texas), writing the majority opinions in both 6-3 rulings. Then, in the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges case, he penned the majority opinion in a 5-4 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
He sided with conservatives on major cases, too. He voted with the 5-4 majority in Bush v. Gore and then with the majority in District of Columbia v. Heller – a major gun rights case. In recent days he sided with religious liberty groups – first with a Christian baker against the state of Colorado and then with crisis pregnancy centers in cases against the state of California.
But the subject of abortion likely will dominate the debate…
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