The Supreme Court quashed rumors about a 2017 retirement for Justice Anthony Kennedy, releasing a statement saying the soon-to-be octogenarian and Reagan appointee is actively preparing for this 29th year on the court, Above the Law reported.
Circumstantial evidence had spurred rumors of Kennedy's impending retirement, namely:
- Kennedy holding his law clerk reunion a year earlier than usual, in 2017 instead of 2018.
- Kennedy didn't teach abroad this past summer.
- Kennedy's hiring of law clerks had slowed.
The Court's public information office addressed each.
"Justice Kennedy is in the process of hiring clerks for 2017," the Supreme Court told Above the Law. "The Justice didn't go to Salzburg this past summer because it conflicted with some plans with his family, but he is scheduled to return to teach there in 2017. The reunion is scheduled for the end of this Term because the Justice's law clerks wanted to hold it during the Justice's 80th year to mark his birthday."
The Kennedy rumor is part of overall speculation as to just how many appointees to the Supreme Court President-elect Donald Trump will have during his first four years in office.
Trump will be poised to nominate a conservative jurist in 2017 to replace Antonin Scalia, who died earlier this year.
In addition to the 79-year-old Kennedy, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 83 and Justice Stephen Breyer is 78.
Ginsburg and Breyer are both liberal judges appointed by Bill Clinton, and Kennedy has become a swing vote to important liberal issues, chief among them — abortion.