Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has announced his retirement.
"It has been the greatest honor and privilege to serve our nation in the federal judiciary for 43 years, 30 of those years on the Supreme Court," Kennedy said in a statement.
In his official letter to President Trump, Kennedy said his resignation would be effective July 31.
Kennedy has been the all-important 'swing vote' for years now.
Tom Goldstein, a Washington lawyer who argues frequently before the court and publishes the SCOTUSblog web site, told NBC News, "Justice Kennedy was the most important member of the court in a century, maybe ever.'
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Kennedy is responsible for many important rulings in favor of the LGBTQ community:
• He authored the court's opinion for the 1996 ruling in Romer v. Evans, which reversed a provision in the Colorado Constitution denying homosexuals the right to bring local discrimination claims.
• In 2003, he wrote the Court's opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, which invalidated anti-sodomy laws on the basis of the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution
• On June 26, 2013, the Court ruled Section 3 of the hideous Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional in United States v. Windsor. That decision, penned by Kennedy, required the federal government to recognize all legal marriages.
• On June 26, 2015, Kennedy authored the majority ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which made marriage equality legal in every state of the country.
But there were times when Kennedy was not our friend as well:
• In the 2000 case of Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, Kennedy and four other justices voted to uphold the Boy Scouts of America's right to ban gays from being scoutmasters.
• More recently, he authored the 7-2 Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling which found Colorado baker Jack Phillips didn't get a fair shake when he was fined for refusing to sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple.
Kennedy was also responsible for helping to gut the Voters Rights Act and the dreadful Citizens United decision.
The vacancy gives Donald Trump another opportunity to turn the nine-member court even more conservative after the addition of Justice Gorsuch last year.
With five solid conservatives justices on the court, the high court could repeal or limit LGBTQ rights, repeal the right to abortion, and more.
