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Today, Explained

The most powerful man in America retires

Today, Explained

Vox

News, Daily News, Politics

4.310.3K Ratings

🗓️ 27 June 2018

⏱️ 20 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After 30 years on the Supreme Court, Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement today. Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick explains what the departure of the swing vote means for the Court and the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:03.2

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0:13.7

And you can find out more by going to uber.com slash moving forward.

0:19.0

Dialoswick host of the Amicus podcast, the most powerful man in America is retiring.

0:24.4

What does that mean for America?

0:27.0

It's extraordinary.

0:28.1

I mean, really all I can think is that to the extent that the Supreme Court has had a center

0:34.8

since Sandra Day O'Connor retired.

0:37.3

He was the center.

0:38.6

We effectively had a four, four, one court.

0:42.8

I want to be clear that didn't make Kennedy a moderate or a liberal.

0:47.5

He was certainly very conservative.

0:49.4

But I think in one area of the law after the other, he was the swing vote.

0:56.1

And to the extent that all of that is going to be up for grabs when a new justice is seated

1:02.5

in October, there will not be a center at the US Supreme Court or maybe to put it another

1:08.8

way.

1:09.8

The incredibly conservative Republican Chief Justice John Roberts now becomes the median

1:18.8

voter at the US Supreme Court.

1:20.9

So it's a sea change.

1:23.0

Yeah, I mean, all the talk is about Kennedy being the most powerful man in America because

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