The final rulings of the current term of the US Supreme Court will be issued today, with talk that retirement could be on the cards for swing voter, Justice Anthony Kennedy. In the coming days, the court will also decide on President Donald Trump’s emergency request to revive the travel ban he implemented via executive order, which a federal court blocked.
Kennedy’s former law clerks say that he is contemplating retirement, although there has been no official confirmation and he has declined to reply to media questions on the issue. If true, the retirement would give Trump an historic opportunity to replace him with another conservative justice, having already appointed Neil Gorsuch. Gorsuch replaced the similarly conservative, Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016. This would make the court more conservative as a whole for decades to come.
Kennedy has agreed with the four liberal Justices in the Court on several issues, such as gay rights. Replacing him with another conservative would be a more significant change to the court’s makeup than Gorsuch’s appointment. Six cases are expected to be ruled on today, not including the decision on Trump’s travel ban, which is also expected soon.
The most notable immigration case due for a Monday ruling concerns the US government holding immigrants in detention for over six months while awaiting deportation, and whether they should be allowed to request release in the meantime. The criminal acts that can cause deportation of a legal immigrant are also set for clarification.