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Judge Napolitano: Kennedy Was Waiting For ‘A Republican President And A Republican Majority’

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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Judge Andrew Napolitano told Fox News host Dana Perino on Wednesday that there was no coincidence in the timing of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement. Recalling a conversation with the late Justice Antonin Scalia, Napolitano claimed that Kennedy had been intentionally waiting until there was Republican control of both the White House and the Senate.

“Let me tell you an interesting little tidbit from a private conversation that I can reveal because the person is dead,” Napolitano began. “Justice Scalia — yes, rest in peace, before he passed away, told me that Justice Kennedy told him that as soon as there was a Republican president and a Republican majority in the Senate, he was ready to retire.” (RELATED: Kennedy Calls It Quits: Longtime Swing Justice Hands Trump The Biggest Gift Of His Presidency)

Kennedy was long considered to be the Supreme Court’s “swing vote” — but Napolitano argued that President Donald Trump would not be looking to replace that.

“Donald Trump is not going to be looking for a swing vote. He is going to be looking for a reliable traditionalist with libertarian leanings, just like he got in Neil Gorsuch.”