This discussion guide is for use with the video “The Nature of Judicial Independence,” which features remarks and conversation with Justice Anthony Kennedy, the Hon. Stephanos Bibas, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and David F. Levi, former dean of Duke University School of Law, on October 26, 2019, at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Summary: After Justice Anthony Kennedy retired in 2018, his vacant seat was widely seen as giving President Trump the chance to dramatically shift the balance of the U.S. Supreme Court to a more solid, conservative majority. Kennedy had emerged as the “swing justice” after the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Indeed, Kennedy played a key role in some of the Court’s most recent controversial decisions.