Supreme Court Term Roundup: Kennedy Retiring, Gerrymandering, Travel Ban And More

With Anthony Brooks

Justice Kennedy retires. We'll look at that and the important cases as we wrap up a big Supreme Court term with top reporters who covered it all.

Josh Gerstein, senior White House reporter for Politico, and also covers the Supreme Court. (@joshgerstein)

Dahlia Lithwick, courts and law reporter for Slate, and host of the Amicus Podcast.

Read: Justice Anthony Kennedy's Retirement Letter To President Trump:

Politico: "Anthony Kennedy retiring, giving Trump opening to reshape Supreme Court" — "Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced on Wednesday that he will retire, unleashing an epic political battle to replace him that could allow President Donald Trump to shift the court to the right for a generation to come.

The departure of the 81-year-old Kennedy from his post after more than three decades has the potential to radically reshape the court on issues such as abortion, affirmative action and gay rights, where Kennedy has served as a swing vote."

The Los Angeles Times: "Supreme Court deals sharp defeat to public employee unions, banning mandatory fees" — "The Supreme Court dealt labor unions a sharp defeat Wednesday, ruling that teachers, police officers and other public employees cannot be forced to pay dues or fees to support their unions.

By a 5-4 vote, the justices overturned a 41-year-old precedent and ruled that the 1st Amendment protects these employees from being required to support a private group whose views may differ from theirs."

Slate: "Why Anthony Kennedy Gave Up" — "It was always more fan fiction than reality that Justice Anthony Kennedy was a moderate centrist. Democrats liked to soothe themselves with the story that Kennedy was a moderate because he’d provided the fifth vote to support continued affirmative action, reproductive rights, and gay rights and had strung the left along with the tantalizing promise of someday finding an unconstitutional political gerrymander. But we always knew that Kennedy was a conservative, indeed a very conservative conservative. Recall that in the famous study done in 2008 by Richard Posner and William Landes, “Four of the five most conservative justices to serve on the Supreme Court since the time of Franklin Roosevelt, including [John] Roberts and [Samuel] Alito, are currently sitting on the bench today.” And Kennedy? He was ranked in that study as the 10th most conservative justice in the past century."

It’s been a season of momentous decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court: Trump’s Travel ban upheld. A baker’s right to religious liberty affirmed. A major defeat for unions. Now, the announced retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy gives President Trump a chance to establish a solid conservative majority on the court – and challenge the liberal consensus on abortion, gay rights and more.

This hour, On Point: this year’s big cases and the coming battle to reshape the Supreme Court.

- Anthony Brooks