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Letter: The ‘next’ Senate should confirm Justice Kennedy’s successor

(AP Photo | Jessica Gresko, File) This April 23, 2018, file photo shows the Supreme Court in Washington. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is stepping down, giving President Donald Trump a shot at remaking the high court into its most conservative version in decades when he names a replacement.

Antonin Scalia died on Feb. 13, 2016, almost a year before the end of President Barack Obama’s second term. The Republicans immediately began clamoring for postponing the appointment of any successor until after the presidential election, saying that the “next” president should fill that vacancy.

Now Anthony Kennedy has announced his retirement from the Supreme Court, effective July 31, 2018, less than six months before the installation of the next Senate. Obviously, by that same irrefutable Republican logic, the “next” Senate should approve his replacement, and the current Senate should refuse to even schedule hearings until January 2019.

Terry A. Mundorff, Murray