Supreme Court spokeswoman responds to Kennedy's rumored retirement: Clerks are being hired
Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Some observers keeping a close eye on Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s actions may be too quick to suggest he may be retiring from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Above the Law notes the speculation and explains the basis for the rumors.
First: Kennedy holds clerkship reunions every five years, but he has scheduled the next one for the year 2017, which will mark his 29th year on the court rather than his 30th year. Second: He didn’t teach abroad in Salzburg this summer, suggesting he may be winding down his schedule. Third: Kennedy has hired just one law clerk for the term beginning in 2017, a lawyer who was originally hired by the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
Above the Law asked Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg about the speculation. She supplied a statement that the blog calls “a persuasive and well-founded rebuttal to the rumors.”
Here is Arberg’s statement: “Justice Kennedy is in the process of hiring clerks for 2017. The justice didn’t go to Salzburg this past summer because it conflicted with some plans with his family, but he is scheduled to return to teach there in 2017. The reunion is scheduled for the end of this term because the justice’s law clerks wanted to hold it during the Justice’s 80th year to mark his birthday.”
