OnPolitics Today: All about Kennedy

We're dedicating today's edition of OP Today to Anthony Kennedy, the Supreme Court justice who announced his retirement on Wednesday.

Keep up with the latest, subscribe here and let's go.

What is a legacy?

Kennedy, nominated to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan, has served on the highest court in the land for 30 years.

And in that time, he became a sort of wild card, as he was the swing vote in key cases. He bridged the gap, USA TODAY's Richard Wolf reports, between the court's liberals and conservatives. Since the retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor back in 2006, that role has only become more important.

He cast the deciding votes on gay marriage and gun ownership, prayer and privacy, campaign finance and capital punishment.

"If you have five, then you can say what you want," Kennedy often said.

What comes next?

Within minutes of Kennedy's personal delivery of his resignation letter, President Trump told reporters that he would move "immediately" to nominate someone as the next Supreme Court justice.

He'll take a look at a list of 25 potential nominees that was assembled with the help of conservative interest groups.

"Hopefully, we will pick someone who is just as outstanding," he said.

Over in the Senate, where nominees must be approved, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised action in the fall.

"The Senate stands ready to fulfill its constitutional role by offering advice and consent on President Trump's nominee to fill this vacancy," the Kentucky Republican said in a speech on the Senate floor. "We will vote to confirm Justice Kennedy's successor this fall."

The opening also is likely to turn into a major issue in the upcoming midterms.

We wonder what Merrick Garland thinks.

Elsewhere in politics

• Supreme Court deals major financial blow to nation's public employee unions
• Fort Bliss in Texas may house 12,000 migrants detained at the border
• VA nominee Robert Wilkie sees bureaucracy as biggest hurdle, pledges transparency
• How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won: Ultra-liberal pitch drew first-time voters in changing district
• Supreme Court sides with Florida in decades-long dispute with Georgia over water rights

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