Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy Is Retiring Justice Kennedy wrote a letter to President Trump on Wednesday, saying he would step down on July 31. “For a member of the legal profession it is the highest of honors to serve on this Court.” Kennedy was appointed by President Reagan in 1987. He became known as the “swing vote” in controversial issues like abortion, capital punishment and gay rights. In 2015, he penned Obergfell v. Hodges, which paved the way for same-sex marriage to be legalized nationwide. His retirement gives Trump and Senate Republicans the chance to make the Court more right-leaning for decades.
