Justice Kennedy Retires - Putting Our Rights In Danger

The people of the United States just got some very bad news. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has been the swing vote on the United States Supreme Court, announced that he will retire at the end of July.

That means that the make-up of the court will change. Instead of four conservatives, four liberals, and a swing justice, there will now be five hard right-wingers and four liberals. It could be that way for at least a decade -- maybe longer. And you can bet that McConnell will try to push a Trump nominee through the Senate as quickly as possible.

This puts equal rights, human rights, and voting rights into serious jeopardy. And it could even put the Roe vs. Wade decision into jeopardy.

Democrats need to use every procedural device at their disposal to stop, or at least delay, a vote on a Trump nominee (who is guaranteed to be a hard right person like Gorsuch). I doubt they can stop the Senate Republicans from approving another right-winger appointed by Trump, but they must try.

This makes it extremely important for Democrats to get to the polls and vote in November. They must flip the Senate to Democratic control. If Democrats are able to delay Trump's nomination pick, they could then force him to appoint a moderate to the court. If not, they could at least make sure that he gets no more picks.

Note the ages of the justices in the graphic above. What if one of the liberals has to retire, or perish the thought, dies. Ginsburg is 85 and Breyer is 79. If Trump got to replace either of them, the conservative advantage would be 6 to 3 -- and that would mean a right-wing court for decades to come.

Flipping the House of Representatives in the coming election would be good, but flipping the Senate has now become critical. That can only be done if Democrats (and Independents) vote is massive numbers in November. Staying at home is NOT an option if you love this country and the rights we have.