SUPREME COURT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Anthony M. Kennedy, one of the Supreme Court’s most consequential modern-day justices and author of landmark rulings on gay rights, the death penalty and campaign finance, announced his retirement Wednesday [6-27-18], handing President Donald Trump a historic opportunity to reshape the court…The justice in his letter expressed ‘profound gratitude for having had the privilege to seek in each case how best to know, interpret, and defend the Constitution and the laws that must always conform to its mandates and promises.’ Justice Kennedy told his colleagues of his decision after they stepped off the bench Wednesday for the final time in the court’s current term. Then he hand delivered his letter to Mr. Trump at the White House, according to a court spokeswoman. Mr. Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, praised Justice Kennedy as a ‘great justice of the Supreme Court’ and said the process of searching for a replacement would ‘begin immediately…’ Justice Kennedy and the president met for about 30 minutes, and Mr. Trump said he asked the justice if he had any recommendations for a replacement. He didn’t answer when reporters asked whom Justice Kennedy had suggested.”
-Brent Kendall, “Justice Anthony Kennedy Announces Retirement From Supreme Court,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, June 27, 2018 3:36 pm