美国最高法院大法官安东尼·肯尼迪星期三宣布他计划退休，给川普总统在任职期间第二次机会任命一位更为保守的人士接替被认为是温和派的肯尼迪。
现年81岁的肯尼迪在担任最高法院大法官30年间在包括堕胎、同性恋权利和投票权在内的很多重大案件中投下关键一票。
他7月底正式开始退休。
肯尼迪在声明中说，能够在联邦司法体系中为国效力43年，包括在最高法院效力30年是他最大的荣幸。
川普总统任命的大法官可能会让保守派在联邦最高法院中牢固掌握多数的五席。肯尼迪退休后，最高法院8名大法官中有4名民主党总统任命的自由派大法官和4名共和党总统任命的保守派大法官。
肯尼迪曾撰写过联邦最高法院的重大意见书，包括1992年确认堕胎权的裁决和2015年具有里程碑意义的美国同性婚姻合法化裁决。
但是肯尼迪大法官星期二在他参与的最后一个案件中加入了4名保守派大法官，裁定川普行政当局禁止人口多为穆斯林的5个国家的公民入境的政令合法。这项政令在美国引起很大争议。
Justice Anthony Kennedy, a moderate on the Supreme Court, announced his retirement on Wednesday, giving President Donald Trump the second opportunity of his presidency to put forward a more conservative judge and alter the makeup of the nation’s highest court.
Kennedy, 81, has often cast the decisive vote in landmark Supreme Court cases during his 30 years on the bench, including those involving abortion, gay rights and voting rights.
His retirement becomes effective at the end of July.
In a statement, Kennedy said it had been his “greatest honor and privilege to serve our nation in the federal judiciary for 43 years, 30 years of those years on the Supreme Court.”
A Trump-named successor would likely create a solid five-member conservative majority on the court. Without Kennedy, the court will be split between four liberal justices who were appointed by Democratic presidents and four conservatives who were named by Republicans.
Kennedy has authored major Supreme Court opinions, including a 1992 ruling that reaffirmed abortion rights, and a landmark 2015 decision that legalized same-sex marriage in the United States.
But in his final decision on the Supreme Court, Kennedy joined the court’s four conservative justices on Tuesday in upholding the Trump administration’s controversial travel ban on citizens of five predominantly Muslim countries.