US: Supreme Court retirement prompts fears over Trump nominee

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said Justice Kennedy, a nominee of President Ronald Reagan, was a “critical moderating force on the Supreme Court for decades”.

He cast the deciding vote in a number of important judgments which protected freedom of speech, prevented the overturning of abortion rights, limited state anti-immigration laws, stopped the execution of children, and preserved affirmative action, ACLU said.

David Cole, legal director at ACLU, said: “We call on the president and the Congress to appoint a nominee who will respect the Constitution, the institutions of our democracy, and the rights of the most vulnerable among us: those whose rights can be lost in the political shuffle. This appointment is about our future as a nation of laws and of people whose humanity and rights need to be respected.

“Trump’s nominee must be fully vetted by the Senate, and the American people deserve a deliberate — not rushed — nomination process. The record of the nominee should dictate the timeline, not any arbitrary dates imposed by a Senate leader.”

Echoing ACLU, Democrat minority leader Nancy Pelosi said a Trump nominee threatens “to destroy a generation of progress for women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, civil rights, workers’ rights and health care”. She added: “The future of our democracy is at stake.”