Change what is legal and what is illegal in this country. Though kennedy most often voted conservative, he also voted with the more liberal justices on issues such as samesex marriage and the Death Penalty quite often and the swing vote upholding the voe versus wade decision. And your lives could very well change because of todays news. Kennedy writing in a letter he hand delivered to President Trump that he will leave the court july 31st and giving President Trump the opportunity to name a successor and Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell saying the senate will vote to name the successor this fall. Setting up what could be a brutal partisan battle before the Midterm Elections. Buckle up. We have the team of the reports from the white house to capitol hill and my experts to break this down in this consequential moment in american history. Well start off with cnn justice correspondent jessica schneider. And why announce it now . Why today. That is exactly what the legal observers are scratching their heads here. Weve seen a sharply divided court in the opinions released this week. And while Justice Kennedy has sided with the conservatives in more than a dozen cases this term, including in yesterdays opinion upholding the travel ban, in his concurring opinion yesterday, about the travel ban, he seemed to issue a subtle shot at the president , writing that words and actions of Public Officials matter. But now of course the courts moderating voice, well hes stepping down. The whole object of the judiciary is to ensure stability and continuity and we pride on the fact there is little change. Reporter in a move that could set in motion a Seismic Shift to the right on the highest court in the land, Justice Anthony kennedy is retiring after more than 30 years on the bench. We as a people are bound together reporter kennedy now 81 sworn the newest justice last year and his former clerk neil gorsuch. While President Trump replaced one conservative with another when he chose gorsuch to take justice antonin scalias seat he now has the opportunity to move the court to the right when he replaced kennedy, a centrist. The case is swing. I dont. Reporter kennedy has never liked being the courts swing vote but for years it is his vote that decided a case in a closely divided court. Kennedy a Ronald Reagan appointee was sworn in 1988. I shall honor the constitution. Reporter he sided with his conservative colleagues on issues such as gun control and voting rights. He authored the majority opinion in Citizens United striking down election spending limits for corporations. Congratulations reporter and in bush v. Gore he cleared the way for george w. Bushs presidency but to the dismay of those on the right, he joined the liberals on abortion, affirmative action and the Death Penalty. His most Lasting Legacy will likely be in the area of gay rights. In 2015 he penned a landmark opinion clearing the way for samesex marriage nationwide. As time proved him to be one of the most unpredictable justices, personal dignity and liberty were themes in Anthony Kennedys jurisprudence. And he announced to his fellow justices after they issued the final opinions of the term this morning. And jake, Justice Kennedy said his family was willing to let him stay on the bench. But he said ultimately his desire to spend more time with them led him to this decision to step down. Jake. Justicia, thanks. Don mcgahn is expected to lead the search for a new justice which will begin immediately. Lets bring in Kaitlin Collins at the white house. And kennedy and the president talked for about half an hour today, the president said. What were they talking about. Reporter they did. And it was about half an hour before the news broke that kennedy would retire and President Trump sounding surprised that reporters didnt see him enter the white house at any point. But he does say they had a conversation and he tremendous respect for kennedy but also said he asked him who he thought he should replace him with on the court and kennedy made some recommendations but he doesnt disclose who he recommended to him but there is a great deal of excitement in the white house they are going to have floerj chance to nominate someone to the Supreme Court. And do we have any idea who President Trump might be considering as a replacement . Reporter well President Trump made big news in the oval office saying he will choose from the list of 25 potential nominees that the white house put out last fall. Here is what else he said about that. We have a very excellent list of great talented, highly educated and highly intelligent hopefully tremendous people. I think the list is very outstanding. It will be somebody from that list. So we have now boiled it down to about 25 people. Reporter now that list is pretty similar to the list that the president used when he picked neil gorsuch, his last Supreme Court nominee but there are five names added in november when they published that list out of nowhere with no retirement announcements just yet. Still months to go before kennedy would announce his retirement. But we do know that on that list a few names, Thomas Hardiman and came down to the wire with neil gorsuch and also brett cavanaugh, someone who clerked for kennedy and senator mike lee of utah. So all people to keep an eye on as the president moves forward. Did he make clear, jake, that he wants to get this done as soon as possible. Michael lee saying today that he wouldnt turn it down. Kaitlin collins. Thanks so much. My panel of experts joins me now. Jeffrey toobin, lets start with you. Explain to the viewers how incredibly significant this retirement is. This will change the court and their lives. Any Supreme Court nomination is important but this is the most important because it will change the partisan makeup of the court. Anthony kennedy as you said was mostly with the conservatives. But on a couple of key issues, most notably abortion rights, he was the vote that was keeping roe v. Wade the law of the land. That is done. Roe v. Wade will be overturned and there is no doubt that the top priority of the people advising president bush President Trump in this nomination is to pick someone that will overturn row v. Wade and the states will start passing bills to ban abortion altogether and i guarantee you in the next year the Supreme Court will have cases which will challenge row v. Wade and i think it is doomed and abortion will be illegal in a significant chunk of this country in 18 months. And there is nothing that democrats can do about it, laura . Well that is partly true in terms of the korcongressional ll and all politics are local and local voting is important to decide who will be in office to do that. But i do agree it is going to change the partisan view point of the Supreme Court but there is still a lot of steps that have to go in order to get a case before the Supreme Court and to overturn 40yearold precedent. Now it may be they will do death by a thousand cuts and narrow it and continue to constrain the rights and move the date at which the viability of the fetus may be may be considered enough for the states to say we can do something about this. But i think it is more to narrow it and constrain as to overturn it entirely. That would be quite, quite monumental and it could happen but the more likely scenario is the constraint and the states could prevent that ultimately with the right to litigation at state level. Is it possible, angela, this will put pressure on the two republican senators who i believe support abortion rights to a degree, senator Susan Collins of maine and Lisa Murkowski of alaska. Is that where there is focus when it comes to the Supreme Court battles coming up . It is hard for me to even think about row v. Wade and just given the fact that Anthony Kennedy sided with the conservative portion of the bench on the last four decisions just coming out. Whether were talking about the wedding cake issue with the gay couple or talking about more voter suppression, base policy through texas and if were talking about todays janice versus ask me case with labor union protection. Not to mention the travel ban. Im sorry. I missed one. The muslim ban is some some of us are calling it and that is more appropriate. I think my issue is he has not been a voice of reason this term. And does that mean were going to get a voice of reason now . Probably not. So on that hand, yes, it applies a lot of pressure to senators murkowski and collins. I really think the pressure, laura, like you would probably agree is on the legal community. The organizations like the National Bar Association and the hispanic National Bar Association and they have been pretty quiet in the jushld nominations front for the last year. It is time for them to step up. Some of us have to renew and pay our dues but that is an Important Role they have to play. Big victory, though, for senator Mitch Mcconnell who has been a stalwart in trying to get as many conservatives on the bench. Republicans are happy today. I think you can hear republicans singing oh, happy day from capitol hill. Donald trump didnt have enough wins going into the Midterm Election but youre talking about two Supreme Court appointments within 18 months and the tax bill. That is enough to campaign on. And i took care to note that Mitch Mcconnell said this is confirmed in the fall. That gives a lot of republicans time to go to the constituents and say im part of the trump agenda and people not willing to do so and on most other issues, republicans will fall in line on judges. And people in West Virginia can go to joe manchin, what are you going to do . You talk about pressure. I think the pressure is on red state democrats and this helps republicans in the senate. I think that is a very important point. You talk about Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, what about Heidi Heitkamp in north dakota and joe donnelly in indiana and joe manchin in West VirginiaClaire Mccaskill in missouri. And how do they vote when they trying to walk the line between being good democrats and but being open to trumps judiciary nominee. I think the president is in good shape and i think he has a fre free hand in nominating the most conservative person he can and i think that is who he will. Is this going to motivate the progressive base, democratic base, angela . I saw a press release from tony perkins from the conservative Family Research council saying this shows this will get evangelical voters out to the polls because they are excited and want to make sure the senate stays republican. Will this get democrats out. I think it sure better. And by that were dealing with what some are called an identity crisis and others calling a struggle for power. What will the face of the Democratic Party look like. If folks cant galvanize and understand that regardless of how progressive you are, you cant be conservative enough for whom ever hes going to apoint, this should at least be a galvanizing and unifying point. Everyone stick around. Ill come to you first next time. Who is on the list of the top picks to replace Justice Kennedy and who might have a chance at getting confirmed. Stay with us. When youre particular, you want things done right. Thats why we test all of our paints and stains for months. Or even years. 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Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Other side effects include upper respiratory tract infection and headache. Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. Vof hundreds of families, hese hmost proud of the one the heads hes kept over his own. Brand vo get paid twice as fast with quickbooks smart invoicing. Quickbooks. Backing you. Heartburn and gas . Now fight both fast new tums chewy bites with gas relief all in one relief of heartburn and gas tum tum tum tums new tums chewy bites with gas relief President Trump said he will likely select the next Supreme Court nominee from a list of 25. Joan, take us through some of the names. Who are you keeping your eye on. A couple of people, jake. And ill tell you that not only will i mention some names, ill tell you that a whole new Political Campaign has been unleashed. Many of these people have friends who are right now trying to get to anybody connected to donald trump or don mcgahn in the white house, President Trumps children, leonard leo with the Federalist Society and here are who appear right now to be the leading contenders. First two are former law clerks to Justice Kennedy. Brett cavanaugh from the d. C. Circuit here in town. We also have a Ray Kethledge and on the sixth circuit, from michigan. We also have a woman by the name of amy barrett, a former notre dame professor on the seventh and circuit. And to circle back to my idea of connections, a man who Mitch Mcconnell really favored and got donald trump to put on the sixth circuit, judge thapar. He could potentially the first Asian American justice on the court. And those are just a few of the names. But i would say that donald trump is put on a list of more than 20 names and neil gorsuch, when he was chosen, he was not chosen from the first list. His name came later. So there could be a dark horse here. But i still think that they will confine it to the names we have. But maybe not these four necessarily. Although i think they are leading contenders and i think theyre surrogates are doing work right now to try to get their profiles raised higher with the president and with key people who will influence this choice. Interesting. And joan, looking back, were there signs that this was coming today from kennedy . You know, i have to say, jake, at noon on the john king show, i said i dont think it will happen. But ill tell you why. I thought, gosh, the guy is in the center of the court. I know hes weary. But i didnt see even this morning in the courtroom, but ill tell you what kept running around in my mind. During this term, he pulled back in an unusual way. He didnt write at all in the big partisan gerrymandering case which was an area he was concerned about. He wrote in such a minimal way on the law on the travel ban case. His main message was to donald trump of course. But he seemed to be kind of pulling back in different ways that made me slightly suspicious. But in that room this morning, jake, at 10 00 when he took his seat, he was just rocking gently in his big black leather chair as he always does and now it occurs to me it is the last time ill see in that chair and his wife mary kennedy was there and that is traditional. And the colleagues didnt seem to indicate that they knew what was up either. Good poker faces. Joan, thank you so much. And my panel is back. Laura coates, this goes way beyond abortion. There is people focusing on the fact that this probably means that roe versus wade will be overturned and abortion declared illegal in several conservative statements. What else is significant about kennedy retiring and what other areas of the law might this affect. He was going be a down the line conservative on things Like Campaign finance and gun control and liberties but in areas like criminal justice reform, he had very key things to say about the use of solitary confinement and all but invited people to say i would like you to challenge this barbaric practice of 25 or over five years plus of being held in solitary confinement and the effect on the mind