U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy will retire this summer, according to Nevada Republican Sen. Dean Heller.
"Kennedy is going to retire around sometime early summer," Heller last week in Las Vegas, according to Politico, which obtained audio of the event.
"Which I'm hoping will get our base a little motivated because right now they're not very motivated. But I think a new Supreme Court justice will get them motivated."
Heller, whose state was won by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, is widely seen as one of the most vulnerable Republicans up for re-election this year.
Although Kennedy, 81, was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, he cast the deciding vote in several cases that made him a hero to liberals, including Obergefell v. Hodges which opened the doors to same-sex marriage, and his reaffirmation of Roe v. Wade in 1992.
Speculation emerged last summer that Kennedy was seriously considering retirement, and re-emerged last month when The New York Times reported that rumors of his retirement were "sweeping Washington."
"Sen. Mike Lee from Utah is probably on that short list of the next Supreme Court justice in our courts," Heller added later to the J. Reuben Clark Law Society in Las Vegas Friday.
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