Okay so... this seems boring news but if you have any interest in America this is pretty big. In the US, the Supreme Court is highly political (especially in recent decades) given the US has a written constitution - in Britain this concept is alien to us, apart from in regards to EU membership, as Parliament and the Crown hold absolute sovereignty over law.

So this Justice who has just retired was appointed by President Ronald Reagan... but he's often the swing vote on the court and isn't to the right or the left really. Now, it matters that he retires now because basically President Trump will now be able to appoint a 2nd Judge (out of a total of 9) to the Supreme Court hereby shaping it for decades to come. That's not to mention the advancing age of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who is a very left wing judge but who is now 85 and in reportedly poor health. By 2024, assuming he's still President, she would be 91.

One of the reasons why the US election last time was so important was exactly for this very reason, that it was coming to a period where many judges on the Supreme Court were coming to their final years.

Good news. (praise)