Orrin Hatch: “I come to this lectern to speak on a subject of perennial importance. It is a subject I know a little something…”

“I come to this lectern to speak on a subject of perennial importance. It is a subject I know a little something about--one that will not only influence the Senate agenda in the near term but will determine the direction of our democracy for decades to come. I speak, of course, on the future of the Supreme Court. Yesterday, Justice Anthony Kennedy--a great friend of mine and a wonderful Justice on the Court--announced his intention to step down, effective July 31. Justice Kennedy has served this Nation with the highest distinction. Over the course of his tenure, he has exercised outsized influence on the Supreme Court and has played a pivotal role in some of the most consequential Court decisions of modern times--from McDonald v. City of Chicago to Citizens United v. FEC. As a testament to his independence, he rightly gained a reputation as the Supreme Court's swing vote. Sometimes he sided with the Court's liberal wing. At other times, he sided with the conservatives. Yet he always sided with what he believed to be the correct interpretation of the law. What more could we ask from a judge? Throughout his public service, Justice Kennedy has mentored a generation of jurists who went on to become luminaries in their own right. Not the least among them is Justice Neil Gorsuch, a former Kennedy clerk who now serves as his equal on the Supreme Court.…”