Analysis: with retirement of US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, Trump just seized the keys to the future

The retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy is a political earthquake that could affect millions of lives and allow Donald Trump to put a stamp on America that will endure long after he leaves the White House.

Presidents come and go, and their policies can swiftly be reversed, as Trump has demonstrated in seeking to erase much of Barack Obama’s legacy. But justices are appointed for life to the Supreme Court, which plays an outsize role in American life compared to equivalent bodies around the world.

That makes Kennedy’s retirement the most momentous political event in the US since the election of Trump.

Kennedy’s successor “could radically alter the course of American justice for decades”, warned Nancy Pelosi, Democratic minority leader in the House, adding: “The future of our democracy is at stake.”

And an email from the liberal Centre for American Progress Action Fund put it bluntly: “You think this Supreme Court term has been horrible? If Donald Trump gets to appoint another Supreme Court justice, we’re staring down 30 to 40 years of vicious, unmitigated attacks on our rights.”