Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the Supreme Court centrist who for a generation has cast the deciding vote in the biggest cases, plans to retire, giving President Trump a chance to shift the court sharply to the right.

Kennedy, 81, will depart effective July 31, the court said in a statement Wednesday.



For the record: An earlier version of this story said Judge Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania sits on the D.C. Circuit. He sits on the 3rd Circuit .

Kennedy’s decision to step down offers conservatives the opportunity they have long sought to lock in a reliable five-member majority on the high court. And for them, it comes at an ideal time, since Republicans control the Senate and have voted in unison to confirm most of Trump’s conservative court nominees.