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56-515: Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American attorney and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan , and sworn in on February 18, 1988. After the retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor in 2006, he was considered the swing vote on many of

112-613: A judicial activist . According to legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, some conservatives viewed Kennedy's pro-gay-rights and pro-choice rulings as betrayals. According to Crawford, the "bitter" quality of some movement conservatives' views on Kennedy stems from his eventual rethinking of positions on abortion, religion, and the death penalty (which Kennedy believes cannot be constitutionally applied to juveniles or intellectually disabled people). A short 2008 law review article by retired lawyer Douglas M. Parker in The Green Bag charged that much of

168-643: A boy, Kennedy came into contact with prominent politicians of the day, such as California Governor and future Chief Justice of the United States Earl Warren . As a young man, Kennedy served as a page in the California State Senate . Kennedy attended C. K. McClatchy High School , where he was an honors student and graduated in 1954. Following in his mother's footsteps, Kennedy enrolled at Stanford University where he developed an interest in constitutional law. After spending his senior year at

224-510: A firestorm of criticism from conservatives. Kennedy had stated at least as early as 1989 that, in order to uphold precedent, he might not vote to overturn Roe . According to Court insiders, Kennedy had reportedly considered overturning Roe , but in the end decided to uphold restrictions while affirming the Roe precedent. In later abortion decisions, it became apparent that Kennedy thought Casey had narrowed Roe and allowed more restrictions. Owing to

280-522: A government entity, in its role as an employer, had the discretion to impose speech restrictions so long as they had the potential to affect its operations. Kennedy emphasized this point by writing: "when public employees make statements pursuant to their official duties, the employees are not speaking as citizens for First Amendment purposes, and the Constitution does not insulate their communications from employer discipline". On June 28, 2012, Kennedy wrote

336-438: A just society. We can extend that slightly to say that Georgia's right to be wrong in matters not specifically controlled by the Constitution is a necessary component of its own political processes. Its citizens have the political liberty to direct the governmental process to make decisions that might be wrong in the ideal sense, subject to correction in the ordinary political process. Kennedy said about Griswold v. Connecticut ,

392-628: A privacy case about the use of contraceptives, "I really think I would like to draw the line and not talk about the Griswold case so far as its reasoning or its result." He also discussed "a zone of liberty, a zone of protection, a line that's drawn where the individual can tell the Government, 'Beyond this line you may not go. ' " His hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee began on December 14, and lasted just three consecutive days. When

448-529: A restriction failed to meet the standards of strict scrutiny , with the law acting to "[seek] to control and suppress all false statements on this one subject in almost limitless times and settings". On June 19, 2017, Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in Packingham v. North Carolina ruling that a prohibition of sex offenders from social media is a violation of the First Amendment. Kennedy noted that, while

504-738: A school in 1924, this Sacramento Law School, subsequently renamed in Professor McGeorge's honor as the "McGeorge School of Law", merged with the University of the Pacific in 1966 and came to be known as "Pacific McGeorge". McGeorge became an integral part of the University of the Pacific in 1991. The current dean of McGeorge School of Law is Michael Hunter Schwartz, formerly the dean of the William H. Bowen School of Law at University of Arkansas at Little Rock from 2013 to 2017. McGeorge has been approved by

560-477: A set of chambers in the Supreme Court building, and employ law clerks. The names of retired associate justices continue to appear alongside those of the active justices in the bound volumes of Supreme Court decisions. Federal statute ( 28 U.S.C.   § 294 ) provides that retired Supreme Court justices may serve—if designated and assigned by the chief justice—on panels of the U.S. courts of appeals, or on

616-410: A strong proponent of interpreting the guarantees of liberty and equality in line with modern human rights law: "lawyers and judges have come to believe the basic principles of human rights are common to the peoples of world [ sic ]." In Hodgson v. Minnesota , 497 U.S. 417 (1990), Kennedy voted to uphold a restriction on abortion for minors that required both parents to be notified about

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672-571: A successor to Associate Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. , President Reagan nominated Kennedy to the Supreme Court. Kennedy won unanimous confirmation from the United States Senate in February 1988. Following the death of Antonin Scalia in February 2016, Kennedy became the senior associate justice of the court; he remained the senior associate justice until his July 2018 retirement. Kennedy retired during

728-531: Is one that we as judges can enforce under the written Constitution. The Due Process Clause is not a guarantee of every right that should inhere in an ideal system. Many argue that a just society grants a right to engage in homosexual conduct. If that view is accepted, the Bowers decision in effect says the State of Georgia has the right to make a wrong decision—wrong in the sense that it violates some people's views of rights in

784-621: The American Bar Association (ABA) since 1969. As an ABA approved law school, McGeorge graduates are eligible to sit for the bar examination in any American jurisdiction. McGeorge joined the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 1974. It has a chapter of the Order of the Coif , a national law school honorary society founded for the purposes of encouraging legal scholarship and advancing

840-640: The Federalist Society to target Kennedy with more conservative clerks, believing this would make Kennedy more conservative. Two of his former clerks, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh , eventually became Supreme Court justices. Conservative pundit George Will and Georgetown University Law Center professor Randy Barnett have described Kennedy's jurisprudence as " libertarian ", although other legal scholars have disagreed. Kennedy issued conservative rulings during most of his tenure, having voted with William Rehnquist as often as any other justice from 1992 to

896-631: The Judicial Conference of the United States : the Advisory Panel on Financial Disclosure Reports and Judicial Activities (subsequently renamed the Advisory Committee on Codes of Conduct) from 1979 to 1987, and the Committee on Pacific Territories from 1979 to 1990, which he chaired from 1982 to 1990. On March 3, 1975, upon Reagan's recommendation, President Gerald Ford nominated Kennedy to

952-571: The London School of Economics , Kennedy graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford in 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science . Kennedy then attended Harvard Law School , graduating in 1961 with a Bachelor of Laws , cum laude . Kennedy was in private practice in San Francisco from 1961 to 1963. In 1963, following his father's death, he took over his father's Sacramento practice, which he operated until 1975. From 1965 to 1988, he

1008-689: The Roberts Court 's 5–4 decisions. Born in Sacramento, California , Kennedy took over his father's legal practice in Sacramento after graduating from Stanford University and Harvard Law School . Kennedy became a U.S. federal judge in 1975 when President Gerald Ford appointed him to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit . In November 1987, after two failed attempts at nominating

1064-494: The Senate , appoint justices to the Supreme Court. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution effectively grants life tenure to associate justices, and all other federal judges , which ends only when a justice dies, retires, resigns, or is impeached and convicted . Each Supreme Court justice has a single vote in deciding the cases argued before it, and the chief justice's vote counts no more than that of any other justice; however,

1120-421: The 1988 presidential election . On November 11, 1987, Reagan nominated Anthony Kennedy to fill Powell's seat. Kennedy was then subjected to an unprecedentedly thorough investigation of his background, which did not uncover any information that would hinder his nomination. In a Ninth Circuit dissent that Kennedy wrote before joining the Supreme Court, he criticized police for bribing a child into showing them where

1176-618: The American Administration wants to bring freedom to oppressed peoples? Is that not because there's some underlying common mutual interest, some underlying common shared idea, some underlying common shared aspiration, underlying unified concept of what human dignity means? I think that's what we're trying to tell the rest of the world, anyway." A 2008 profile of Kennedy in the Los Angeles Times focused on his internationalist perspective. According to David Savage, Kennedy had become

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1232-571: The Court's altered composition under President Clinton, Kennedy was no longer the fifth vote to strike down abortion restrictions. Hence, O'Connor became the justice who defined the meaning of Casey in subsequent cases, while Kennedy was relegated to dissents in which he sought to explain what he thought Casey meant. For example, Kennedy dissented in the 2000 decision in Stenberg v. Carhart , which struck down laws criminalizing partial-birth abortion . After

1288-545: The Court's majority in Atkins v. Virginia and Roper v. Simmons , Kennedy agreed that the execution of the mentally ill and those under 18 at the time of the crime was unconstitutional. In Kansas v. Marsh , however, he declined to join the dissent, which questioned the overall "soundness" of the existing capital punishment system. Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States An associate justice of

1344-449: The First Amendment protects statements by public officials pursuant to their duties from employer discipline. Kennedy utilized past precedents in Pickering v. Board of Education to determine whether or not an employee spoke as a citizen on a matter of public concern or in the capacity of his office. Upon the identification that speech was said in an official capacity, Kennedy determined that

1400-454: The Senate voted on Kennedy's nomination, he received bipartisan support. Maureen Hoch of PBS wrote that he "virtually sailed through the confirmation process and was widely viewed by conservatives and liberals alike as balanced and fair". The U.S. Senate confirmed him on February 3, 1988, by a vote of 97 to 0; he is the most recent Supreme Court justice to be confirmed by a unanimous vote. Absent from

1456-541: The Supreme Court and made the transition to senior status effective July 31, 2018. He has the distinction of being the only Supreme Court Justice to have two former clerks of his be appointed to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh . According to legal reporter Jan Crawford , Kennedy attracted the ire of conservatives when he did not vote with his more conservative colleagues. In 2005, Tom DeLay criticized Kennedy for his reliance on international law and for conducting his own Internet research, calling him

1512-530: The Supreme Court of the United States is a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States , other than the chief justice of the United States . The number of associate justices is eight, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869 . Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution of the United States grants plenary power to the president to nominate, and with the advice and consent (confirmation) of

1568-486: The Supreme Court seat vacated by Lewis F. Powell Jr. , who had announced his retirement in late June. However, he was rejected 42–58 by the Senate on October 23. The president's next nominee, Douglas Ginsburg , withdrew his name from consideration on November 7 after admitting to marijuana use, and Senate Judiciary Committee member Patrick Leahy said that if Reagan's next nominee was unacceptable to Senate Democrats, they would refuse hearings for any candidate until after

1624-406: The Supreme Court was established in 1789, the following 104 persons have served as an associate justice: McGeorge School of Law The school that eventually became McGeorge began in 1921 when University of Chicago Law School graduate and Standard Oil executive Verne Adrian McGeorge began teaching law students at night in downtown Sacramento, California. After its formal establishment as

1680-431: The U.S. district courts. Retired justices are not, however, authorized to take part in the consideration or decision of any cases before the Supreme Court (unlike other retired federal judges who may be permitted to do so in their former courts); neither are they known or designated as a "senior judge". When, after his retirement, William O. Douglas attempted to take a more active role than was customary, maintaining that it

1736-573: The United States Constitution. Toobin sees this consideration of foreign law as the biggest factor behind Kennedy's occasional breaking with his most conservative colleagues. The use of foreign law in Supreme Court opinions dates back to at least 1829, though according to Toobin, its use in interpreting the Constitution on "basic questions of individual liberties" began only in the late 1990s. Defending his use of international law, in 2005 Kennedy told Toobin, "Why should world opinion care that

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1792-413: The basis of a rigid ideology. Vanity Fair quoted several former Supreme Court clerks as indicating that they believe Kennedy was often swayed by the opinions of his clerks, including his ruling on Planned Parenthood v. Casey . One clerk derisively stated that "the premise is that he can't think by himself, and that he can be manipulated by someone in his second year of law school". This notion also led

1848-504: The chief justice leads the discussion of the case among the justices. Furthermore, the chief justice—when in the majority—decides who writes the court's opinion; otherwise, the senior justice in the majority assigns the writing of a decision. The chief justice also has certain administrative responsibilities that the other justices do not and is paid slightly more ($ 298,500 per year as of 2023, compared to $ 285,400 per year for an associate justice). Associate justices have seniority in order of

1904-648: The child's mother hid drugs. Considering such conduct offensive and destructive of the family, Kennedy wrote that "indifference to personal liberty is but the precursor of the state's hostility to it." Kennedy wrote an article the year before, however, about judicial restraint, and the following excerpt from it was read aloud by Jeffrey Levi, executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Taskforce, at his confirmation hearing: One can conclude that certain essential, or fundamental, rights should exist in any just society. It does not follow that each of those essential rights

1960-485: The city could demonstrate that their political affiliations "had a reasonable and appreciable effect on its job performance". The Court held that Northlake neither attempted nor would it have been able to make such a demonstration. Therefore, Northlake's removal of O'Hare Truck Service from its employment list was unconstitutional. On May 30, 2006, Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in Garcetti v. Ceballos relating to whether

2016-488: The conservative wing of the court 11 times; the liberals, five. In the 2010–2011 term, 16 cases were decided by a 5–4 vote; Kennedy joined the majority in 14 of the decisions. Following the death of Antonin Scalia in February 2016, Kennedy became the Senior Associate Justice of the court and the last appointed by President Reagan; he remained the Senior Associate Justice until his retirement. Kennedy retired from

2072-643: The controlling opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey along with Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and David Souter . Kennedy was born and raised in a Catholic family in Sacramento, California . His ancestry was mainly Irish, with some Scottish, German, and English ancestry as well. He was the son of Anthony J. Kennedy (1902–1963), an attorney with a reputation for influence in the California State Legislature , and Gladys ( née McLeod; 1904–1981), who participated in many local civic activities. As

2128-432: The criticism of Kennedy was based upon " pop psychology " rather than careful analysis of his opinions. Kennedy himself responds to concerns about judicial activism this way: "An activist court is a court that makes a decision you don't like." According to The New Yorker staff writer Jeffrey Toobin , starting in 2003, Kennedy became a leading proponent of the use of foreign and international law as an aid to interpreting

2184-399: The date their respective commissions bear, although the chief justice is always considered to be the most senior justice. If two justices are commissioned on the same day, the elder is designated the senior justice of the two. Currently, the senior associate justice is Clarence Thomas . By tradition, when the justices are in conference deliberating the outcome of cases before the Supreme Court,

2240-497: The end of the Rehnquist Court in 2005. In his first term on the Court, Kennedy voted with Rehnquist 92 percent of the time—more than any other justice. Before becoming the median justice on the court in 2006, Kennedy sided with conservatives during close rulings 75 percent of the time. However, Kennedy was also known for siding with the court's liberal justices on high-profile social issues like same-sex marriage and abortion. Kennedy

2296-639: The ethical standards of the legal profession. In the 2023 U.S. News & World Report law school rankings, McGeorge School of Law was ranked 133. Of the McGeorge alumni who took the California bar for the first time in July, 2022, 57% passed. It ranked fifteenth among the eighteen ABA-accredited California law schools. McGeorge's tuition and fees for full-time students during the 2019–2020 academic year cost $ 56,776 per year, while tuition and fees for part-time students

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2352-484: The exercise of abortion rights. The decision did not expressly overrule Stenberg , although many commentators saw it as having that effect. O'Hare Truck Service, Inc. was a towing company employed under contract by the City of Northlake in northern Illinois . Northlake removed O'Hare from its list on towing companies because the company's owner did not support Northlake's mayoral candidate in his reelection campaign: instead,

2408-568: The judicial appointments made by President George W. Bush, Kennedy again became the needed fifth vote to strike down abortion restrictions. Since Kennedy's conception of abortion rights was narrower than O'Connor's, the court became slightly more supportive of abortion restrictions after 2006. Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in Gonzales v. Carhart , 550 U.S. 124 (2007), which held that a federal law criminalizing partial-birth abortion did not violate Casey because it did not impose an "undue burden" upon

2464-583: The justices state their views in order of seniority. The senior associate justice is also tasked with carrying out the chief justice's duties when he is unable to, or if that office is vacant. There are currently eight associate justices on the Supreme Court. The justices, ordered by seniority, are: An associate justice who leaves the Supreme Court after attaining the age and meeting the service requirements prescribed by federal statute ( 28 U.S.C.   § 371 ) may retire rather than resign. After retirement, they keep their title, and by custom may also keep

2520-430: The owner supported an opposition candidate. The Supreme Court held, in a majority 7–2 opinion written by Kennedy ( O'Hare Truck Service, Inc. v. City of Northlake ), that independent contractors such as O'Hare are entitled to the same First Amendment protections as those afforded to government employees. Accordingly, Northlake could not base the towing company's employment on its political affiliations or beliefs unless

2576-592: The plurality opinion in United States v. Alvarez declaring the Stolen Valor Act unconstitutional. In doing so, Kennedy determined the Act supported a content-based restriction on speech - that being a nondefamatory falsehood of having received a military decoration or medal - and that the government failed to provide a direct causal link between the restriction and a potential injury. Additionally, Kennedy wrote that such

2632-476: The presidency of Donald Trump and was succeeded by his former law clerk, Brett Kavanaugh . Following O'Connor's death in 2023, Kennedy is the oldest living former Supreme Court justice. Kennedy authored the majority opinion in several important cases—including Boumediene v. Bush , Citizens United v. FEC , and four major gay rights cases: Romer v. Evans , Lawrence v. Texas , United States v. Windsor , and Obergefell v. Hodges . He also co-authored

2688-572: The procedure. Kennedy co-authored the plurality opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), which reaffirmed in principle (though without many details) the Roe v. Wade decision recognizing the right to abortion under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment . The plurality opinion, signed jointly by three justices appointed by Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush , ignited

2744-435: The restriction was tailored to suit a government interest in preventing child sex abuse , the law did not pass strict scrutiny nor was it narrowly tailored for that purpose. The barring of a substantial amount of online expression was therefore unrelated to its stated goal and acted "to foreclose access to social media altogether [and] to prevent the user from engaging in the legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights". With

2800-568: The scenes, he relished his role as the deciding vote, to the point that some of them expressed a belief that he would pretend to waver on votes when he had, in fact, already made up his mind. On the Roberts Court, Kennedy often decided the outcome of cases. In the 2008–2009 term, he was in the majority 92 percent of the time. In the 23 decisions in which the justices split 5–4, Kennedy was in the majority in all but five. Of those 23 decisions, 16 were strictly along ideological lines, and Kennedy joined

2856-534: The seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that had been vacated by Charles Merton Merrill . Kennedy was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 20 and received his commission on March 24, 1975. Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other In July 1987, President Ronald Reagan nominated Robert Bork to

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2912-456: The vote were three Democrats: Paul Simon and Al Gore were campaigning and Joe Biden was ill. Attorney General Edwin Meese presented Kennedy's commission to the court in a swearing-in ceremony on February 18, 1988. Although appointed by a Republican president, Kennedy was not easily pigeonholed ideologically; he had a reputation for looking at cases individually instead of deciding them on

2968-608: Was $ 42,418-47,824 per year. McGeorge offers degree programs leading to the award of the J.D. ( Juris Doctor ), the LL.M. ( Master of Laws ), the M.P.A. ( Master of Public Administration ), the M.P.P. ( Master of Public Policy ) and the J.S.D. ( Doctor of Juridical Science ) degrees. McGeorge offers both a three-year day division program and four-year evening division program. The first year curriculum at McGeorge consists of 27 units. McGeorge law students must also complete 29 units of upper-level required curriculum. Therefore, 56 units out of

3024-652: Was a professor of constitutional law at McGeorge School of Law , at the University of the Pacific . During Kennedy's time as a California law professor and attorney, he helped California Governor Ronald Reagan draft a state tax proposal. Kennedy served in the California Army National Guard from 1961 to 1962 and became a private first class . He was on the board of the Federal Judicial Center from 1987 to 1988. He also served on two committees of

3080-571: Was his prerogative to do so because of his senior status, he was rebuffed by Chief Justice Warren Burger and admonished by the whole Court. There are currently three living retired associate justices: David Souter , retired June 29, 2009; Anthony Kennedy , retired July 31, 2018; and Stephen Breyer , retired June 30, 2022. Souter has served on panels of the First Circuit Courts of Appeals following his retirement; Kennedy and Breyer have not performed any judicial duties since retiring. Since

3136-448: Was known as a swing vote on the court, and this reputation became more pronounced after the 2005 retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (who had previously been known as the court's primary swing vote). Kennedy, who was slightly more conservative than former Justice O'Connor was on issues of race, religion, and abortion, intensely disliked being labeled a "swing vote" in public. However, interviews with former clerks indicate that, behind

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