Anthony Mcleod Kennedy


Kennedy, Anthony McLeod,

1936–, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1988–2018), b. Sacramento, Calif., grad. Stanford (1958), Harvard Law School (1961). For many years (1965–88) he taught at the McGeorge School of Law at the Univ. of the Pacific. He was named to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1975. In 1988, after the highly contested and unsuccessful nominations of Robert BorkBork, Robert Heron,
1927–2012, American jurist, b. Pittsburgh. He received his law degree from the Univ. of Chicago in 1953, and was professor of law at Yale (1962–73, 1977–81). While serving as U.S.
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 and Douglas Ginsburg, President ReaganReagan, Ronald Wilson
, 1911–2004, 40th president of the United States (1981–89), b. Tampico, Ill. In 1932, after graduation from Eureka College, he became a radio announcer and sportscaster.
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 nominated Kennedy to the U.S. Supreme Court, replacing Lewis F. PowellPowell, Lewis Franklin, Jr.,
1907–98, American lawyer, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1971–87), b. Suffolk, Va. He studied law at Washington and Lee Univ. and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1931.
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. On the court, Kennedy demonstrated a fairly conservative voting pattern, but by the mid-1990s he had come to be regarded as part of a centrist bloc with Sandra Day O'ConnorO'Connor, Sandra Day,
1930–, U.S. lawyer and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1981–2006), b. El Paso, Tex. Graduating from Stanford law school (1952), she returned to practice in her home state of Arizona.
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 and David SouterSouter, David Hackett,
1939–, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1990–2009), b. Melrose, Mass. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he served as New Hampshire's attorney general (1976–78), and on the state's superior court (1978–83) before being
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. Further changes in the court's composition by 2007 made Kennedy the main swing voter on the court. He also came to be noted for advocating the consideration of foreign and international law and legal decisions when deciding U.S. constitutional issues and for his opinions in support of gay rights.

Bibliography

See F. J. Colucci, Justice Kennedy's Jurisprudence (2009).