27 Facts About Anthony Kennedy

1. On June 23, 1963, Anthony Kennedy married Mary Jeanne Davis from Sacramento and they have three children, Justin, Gregory, and Kristin.

2. Anthony Kennedy is one of fourteen Catholic justices—of whom five sit on the Court as of 2018—out of 114 justices in total in the history of the Supreme Court.

3. In January 2015, Anthony Kennedy recorded a short interview for Historic Mount Vernon about the vital role George Washington had played in the drafting and early interpretation of the Constitution.

4. Anthony Kennedy spends his summers in Salzburg, Austria, where he teaches international and American law at the University of Salzburg for the McGeorge School of Law international program and often attends the large yearly international judges conference held there.

5. Anthony Kennedy is more conservative than former Justice O'Connor was on issues of race, religion, and abortion, and intensely dislikes being labeled a "swing vote".

6. Anthony Kennedy has reliably issued conservative rulings during most of his tenure, having voted with William Rehnquist as often as any other justice from 1992 to the end of the Rehnquist Court in 2005.

7. Anthony Kennedy ruled with the majority on Equal Protection grounds in the controversial 2000 Bush v Gore case that halted continuing recounts in the 2000 presidential election and ended the legal challenge to the election of President George Bush.

8. Anthony Kennedy has joined with Court majorities in decisions favoring states' rights and invalidating federal and state affirmative action programs.

9. Anthony Kennedy sided with the conservatives on the Court, holding that the Second Amendment recognized an individual's right to keep and bear arms.

10. Anthony Kennedy had stated at least as early as 1989 that, in order to uphold precedent, he might not vote to overturn Roe.

11. Anthony Kennedy takes a very broad view of constitutional protection for speech under the First Amendment, invalidating a congressional law prohibiting "virtual" child pornography in the 2002 decision, Ashcroft v ACLU.

12. Anthony Kennedy is "tough on crime" and opposes creating constitutional restrictions on the police, especially in Fourth Amendment cases involving searches for illegal drugs, although there are some exceptions, such as his concurrence in Ferguson v City of Charleston.

13. Anthony Kennedy has supported adding substance to the "liberty" interest protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which means he supports a constitutional right to abortion in principle, though he has voted to uphold several restrictions on that right, including laws to prohibit partial-birth abortions.

14. Anthony Kennedy provided an opinion in Town of Greece v Galloway case, concluding, "The town of Greece does not violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause by opening its meetings with sectarian prayer that comports with America's tradition and doesn't coerce participation by nonadherents.

15. Anthony Kennedy will continue to serve the courts as a senior associate justice pursuant to.

16. Anthony Kennedy was unanimously confirmed by the US Senate on March 20 and received his commission on March 24, 1975.

17. Anthony Kennedy has served in numerous positions during his career, including the California Army National Guard in 1961 and the board of the Federal Judicial Center from 1987 to 1988.

18. Anthony Kennedy continues to teach law students at seminars during McGeorge's European summer sessions in Salzburg, Austria.

19. Anthony Kennedy was in private practice in San Francisco from 1961 to 1963.

20. Anthony Kennedy graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1958, after spending his senior year at the London School of Economics.

21. Anthony Kennedy served as a page in the California State Senate as a young man.

22. Anthony Kennedy was the son of Anthony J Kennedy, an attorney with a reputation for influence in the California legislature, and Gladys, who participated in many local civic activities.

23. Anthony Kennedy was born and raised in an Irish Catholic family in Sacramento, California.

24. Anthony Kennedy authored the majority opinion in several important cases, including Boumediene v Bush and Citizens United v FEC.

25. Anthony Kennedy retired during the administration of President Donald Trump and was succeeded by Brett Kavanaugh.

26. Anthony Kennedy won unanimous confirmation from the United States Senate in February 1988.

27. Anthony Kennedy was nominated to the court in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan, and sworn in on February 18, 1988.