News 2018: Duncan Weighs in on Justice Kennedy’s Retirement and the Future of the Supreme Court

Professor Dwight Duncan joined other constitutional law experts answering questions raised by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement

Professor Dwight Duncan joined other constitutional law experts answering questions raised by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement.

First, Duncan responded to predictions that abortion would soon become legal in many states under the new court: “[C]ount me skeptical. That would require that the newly appointed justice be quickly confirmed, that she or he be ready to vote to overturn Roe in an appropriate case, and that the four conservatives be ready to join in — a proposition by no means certain, particularly as to Justices Roberts, Gorsuch, and Alito. It would also require that the state vote to criminalize abortion, and the state supreme court would have to declare the prohibition constitutional on state constitutional grounds.”

Second, asked when was the last supreme court appointment as significant as the upcoming one by President Trump, Duncan responded: “1803, when Chief Justice John Marshall recognized the power of the Supreme Court to judicially review the constitutionality of laws in Marbury v. Madison. The Supreme Court is now at the tipping point, and Justice Kennedy's replacement will cast the deciding vote.”

Ten legal experts on the future of Roe v. Wade after Kennedy, https://www.vox.com/2018/7/2/17515154/kennedy-retirement-roe-wade

Supreme court vacancy: prepare for a game-changer, experts say, http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2018-07-08/supreme-court-vacancy-prepare-game-changer-experts-say.html