Client: CGTN (China Global Television Network) 

Art Direction: Bemnet Goitom 

Motion Design and Editor: Bemnet Goitom 

Animation: Bemnet Goitom 

Script: Jessica Stone 

Media: Explainer Graphics 

Bemnet Goitom 

(BEMZ) Visual Artist

VO#1: Over the years, the Supreme Court has awarded women and African-Americans the right to vote, protected Americans’ right to own a gun, permitted abortions, and allowed members of the same sex to marry each other.

VO#2: Each justice serves on the court until death or retirement. Some serve for decades, like Anthony Kennedy, who remained on the bench 34 years. That’s a generation!

VO#3: Over his career on the court, Kennedy cast the deciding vote in some of the country’s most significant cases including:

Upholding abortion rights in 1992

Preventing the execution of criminal juveniles in 2005

Protecting individuals’ right to keep guns in their homes in 2008

Legalizing gay marriage in 2015

And Upholding President Trump’s travel ban this year (2018 in graphic)

VO#4: So - how will Kennedy be replaced?

First, the U.S. president chooses a nominee. Then the Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearings and votes on the candidate. Lastly, the 100 member U.S. Senate votes on the nomination, requiring a simple 51-vote majority to confirm a justice.   

VO#5: The current court is now made up of four justices chosen by Republican presidents – and four selected by Democrats. Kennedy’s replacement will direct the future balance of the court until another justice leaves.