Booker Statement on the Retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement:

“I thank Justice Kennedy for his service to the Supreme Court and our country.

“This is an enormously consequential moment for the future of our democracy. What’s at stake are some of our most important values and ideals – the rights of women to make their own medical decisions, voting rights, the rights of workers to organize for better wages and working conditions, the principle of equal justice under the law, and many more. Our next Supreme Court justice should be a champion for protecting and advancing rights, not rolling them back.

“We arrived in this moment because of a perversion of the Constitution and Senate rules – by Mitch McConnell literally stealing a President’s power to appoint a Supreme Court justice. He should apply his own standard to this vacancy and wait for the American people to have their say in the November election before bringing a nominee before the Senate.

“If not, those of us in the Senate should do everything we can to stop a nomination from moving forward.”