美國聯邦最高法院大法官肯尼迪宣佈退休

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.美國最高法院大法官安東尼·肯尼迪星期三宣佈他計劃退休，給川普總統在任職期間第二次機會任命一位更爲保守的人士接替被認爲是溫和派的肯尼迪。

現年81歲的肯尼迪在擔任最高法院大法官30年間在包括墮胎、同性戀權利和投票權在內的很多重大案件中投下關鍵一票。

他7月底正式開始退休。

肯尼迪在聲明中說，能夠在聯邦司法體系中爲國效力43年，包括在最高法院效力30年是他最大的榮幸。

川普總統任命的大法官可能會讓保守派在聯邦最高法院中牢固掌握多數的五席。肯尼迪退休後，最高法院8名大法官中有4名民主黨總統任命的自由派大法官和4名共和黨總統任命的保守派大法官。

肯尼迪曾撰寫過聯邦最高法院的重大意見書，包括1992年確認墮胎權的裁決和2015年具有里程碑意義的美國同性婚姻合法化裁決。

但是肯尼迪大法官星期二在他參與的最後一個案件中加入了4名保守派大法官，裁定川普行政當局禁止人口多爲穆斯林的5個國家的公民入境的政令合法。這項政令在美國引起很大爭議。