The retirement of Justice Kennedy is an unmitigated disaster. We are now already virtually guaranteed a very right-wing court for a generation. Roe v. Wade is toast, in spirit if not in letter. If Trump or Pence gets to appoint a Ginsburg vacancy….
The Supreme Court is too powerful. And its great power is combined with this very capricious system of lifetime appointments made at indeterminate times, times at which changing political conditions are all-important. To my mind, the Court has been very largely discredited an an institution during my lifetime, the idea that the constitution can be applied as would be a translation algorithm that is better than any now in existence is completely preposterous, the Court is a thoroughly political institution. Originalism is incoherent. Even if it were coherent, it would be unacceptable politically.
I think the United States needs a new constitution, both as a political and as a legal matter. There is going to be a very serious mismatch between the economic and social conditions prevailing in the country and the right-wing, plutocratic and oligarchic Supreme Court that is already in view.
It is ironic, to say the least, that the petty gangster occupying the oval office, a man who cares nothing for the rule of law, is going to be credited with reinstituting the strict construction of the constitution.