President Donald Trump reacted to news that Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is retiring in real time on Wednesday, telling reporters that the search for a new justice will begin “immediately.”
“Hopefully we’re going to pick somebody who will be just as outstanding,” he said, referencing Kennedy.
Trump thanked Kennedy for his years of service and said he is a man of “tremendous vision” and “tremendous heart.”
“So I just want to thank Justice Kennedy for the years of tremendous service,” he said. “He is a very spectacular man. Really is a spectacular man. And I know that he will be around hopefully for a long time to advise and I believe he will be teaching and doing other things. So thank you to Justice Kennedy.”
He told reporters that his pick will come from an existing list of 25 “highly educated, highly intelligent, hopefully tremendous” conservative judges that he’s been referencing since the early days of his campaign.
Kennedy announced his retirement Wednesday afternoon, effective at the end of July.
President Trump reaction to Justice Anthony Kennedy retirement: "He's been a great Justice of the Supreme Court." #SCOTUS pic.twitter.com/oFJ7TJ31Jn
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 27, 2018
