It was unusually warm, and it came as a surprise to some, when Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his resignation in a letter to President Trump, a man he addressed as “my dear president.” It was the culmination of Trump’s year-and-a-half long charm offensive.
This president may not win many friends, but he put on a master class in how to influence Supreme Court justices. Now in just his second year, Trump will send a second justice to the court — as many as Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama managed in their entire two terms in office.
It is hardly a coincidence that Kennedy retired with Trump in the Oval Office. The Reagan nominee could have just as easily called it quits when Obama was president. He didn’t. He also didn’t hold on until 2020 in hopes of another party taking over the White House. Instead, Kennedy retired smack dab in the second year of Trump after developing a close acquaintance with the president.
The two barely have anything in common. Trump flipped condos. Kennedy wrote legal opinions. But the two bonded over their kids as evidenced by a hot mic at this president’s first congressional address. The Trump campaign brought on Gregory Kennedy as a financial adviser during the transition, and the justice was more than flattered.
“Say hello to your boy. Special guy,” the president said. “Your kids have been very nice to him,” the Supreme Court justice replied. “Well, they love him, and they love him in New York,” Trump concluded.
This showcases Trump’s superb ability to schmooze. It was also a prelude to a greater overture. The president promised to take good care of Kennedy’s second family, namely his legal clerks, including now-Justice Neil Gorsuch. And during Gorsuch’s swearing-in ceremony, Trump laid it on thick.
Trump called the ceremony “a very, very special moment.” As I wrote last April, he might as well have called it a historic opportunity. That’s because Gorsuch began his legal career by clerking for Kennedy and, as Trump noted, “it’s a fitting testament to Justice Kennedy’s impact that upon giving the oath to Judge Gorsuch, he’ll become the first-ever Supreme Court justice to serve with one of his former clerks.”
“That’s sort of a big deal, isn’t it?” Trump said, going off script. “I sort of like that,” he continued signaling, at the time, that perhaps he had another grand gesture in mind.
And clearly, Trump did have another gesture in mind. Trump nominated a former Kennedy clerk with Gorsuch, and Trump could nominate a second Kennedy clerk now. Both Brett Kavanaugh of Maryland, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, began their careers in the high court chambers of Kennedy.
With a little bit of charm, it seems that this president has positioned himself to reshape the entire judicial system.
