“Abortion will be illegal in a significant part of the United States in 18 months. There is just no doubt about that… Roe v. Wade is doomed.”

— Legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, explaining on CNN the ramifications of President Trump picking a new Supreme Court Justice.

“President Trump’s time in office has been tumultuous, his term dogged by the special counsel investigation, his major legislative achievements few and his political prospects clouded by the chances of a Democratic Party midterm wave,” the New York Times reports.

“But no matter what else happens in the Trump presidency, the retirement of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the Supreme Court’s swing voter, set up Mr. Trump to cement a lasting legacy. Given a second Supreme Court vacancy to fill, he appears likely to go down in American history as an unusually influential president.”

“As the first Republican president to get his judicial nominees confirmed by a simple majority vote, thanks to the abolition of the Senate filibuster rule, Mr. Trump has already broken records in appointing young and highly conservative appellate judges. Now, Mr. Trump can create a new majority bloc on the Supreme Court — one that is far more consistently conservative, and one that can impose its influence over American life long after his presidency ends on issues as diverse as the environment and labor or abortion and civil rights.”

Jonathan Chait: “Democrats have won the national vote in six of the last seven presidential elections, which, with the retirement of Anthony Kennedy, will have resulted in the appointment of eight of its nine justices. And yet four of those justices will have been appointed by presidents who took office despite having fewer votes than their opponent. Republicans will have increasingly solid control of the court’s majority, with the chance to replace the sometimes-wavering Kennedy with a never-wavering conservative movement stalwart.”

“Over the last generation, the Republican Party has moved rapidly rightward, while the center of public opinion has not. It is almost impossible to find a substantive basis in public opinion for Republican government. On health care, taxes, immigration, guns, the GOP has left America behind in its race to the far right. But the Supreme Court underscores its ability to counteract the undertow of its deepening, unpopular extremism by marshaling countermajoritiarian power.”

Rick Hasen: “In short order, I expect President Trump to take the safe route and nominate a stellar Scalia clone. My personal expectation is that Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is a likely pick. Trump has reportedly already said he intends to select the next justice from a previously circulated list of Federalist Society–approved judges.”

“Following the playbook used for Justice Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation, the new nominee will be a very smart (likely white male) judge with impeccable credentials who can get up in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee and commit to absolutely nothing in terms of his future rulings.”

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has announced he is retiring after more than 30 years on the court, kicking off what is sure to be a brutal confirmation battle.

Washington Post: “It will be the first time since Justice Clarence Thomas replaced Thurgood Marshall more than 25 years ago that a new justice could radically change the direction of the court. Justices added to the court since then have replaced justices of the same basic ideology.”

New York Times: “A Trump appointee would very likely create a solid five-member conservative majority that could imperil abortion rights and expand gun rights.”

For members: How the Supreme Court Nomination Fight May Unfold