Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement was expected for some time and one of the Senate’s top Democrats said the age of several of the remaining justices means Congress is ready for vacancies at any time.
“We’ve been expecting this. There are several members of the Court who have reached an age where this might happen any day,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, (D-Ill.), told Hill.TV.
Kennedy, 81, served three decades on the high court, which has four other senior citizens still on the bench. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, is the oldest at 85.
Ginsburg is followed by another left-leaning Clinton appointee, Justice Stephen Breyer, 79, conservative Clarence Thomas, 70, and conservative Samuel Alito, 68.
— Molly K. Hooper
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