There’s been quite a bit of speculation surrounding the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. For months now, we’ve been hearing he may be retiring soon. The brilliant, conservative Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) appeared on the Benson and Harf show yesterday and appeared to confirm that Kennedy is indeed, on the brink of retirement and that he would like to be replaced by a Republican President.

According to Townhall, Utah’s Mike Lee, who also happens to be on President Trump’s SCOTUS short list.  Sen. Lee joined Benson & Harf.

Lee’s remarks about Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy can be heard at the six-minute mark:

https://www.facebook.com/foxnewsradio/videos/10157227866747699/

 

GB: What are you hearing, with your ear to the ground, about what may or may not happen with Justice Kennedy — if you’re willing to comment on that?  And if you believe that there might be a vacancy forthcoming, what’s the mood among your Republican colleagues in the Senate about the urgency about moving forward with a confirmation process prior to the election?

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT):  Great question.  I have, uh, no conclusive evidence one way or another as to what’s going to happen.  There is a lot of chatter suggesting that Justice Kennedy might be preparing for retirement as soon as this year…Sometime between now and the end of June or first day or two of July would be when we would expect an announcement from Justice Kennedy if he were going to do it. What I am hearing is that he is at least considering it and that it’s a very real possibility. What I also heard is that having been appointed by President Reagan back in the late 1980’s, he considers himself a Republican and with all things being equal would prefer to be replaced by a Republican President. As to the part of your question about how question it would be to move right toward it: There’s nothing more important that we could be doing other than that…It should be something that we jump right onto and something we certainly should complete before we get into the election cycle…nobody knows what’s going to happen in that election, and if President Trump ends up having the chance to nominate someone to the Supreme Court, we need to get that nominee confirmed.

Believe it or not, much like President Trump and Sen. McConnell’s drumbeat of lower court confirmations, the prospect of a massive SCOTUS fight breaking out just a few months before a contested election has largely flown under the radar amid a seemingly endless parade of wild news cycles. But it could be a gamechanger, in both the short-term (electorally) and the long-term (in terms of jurisprudence).

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