ANTHONY KENNEDY
Associate Justice (1988 - 2018)
QUICK FACTS
APPOINTED BY
Ronald Reagan
PRECEDED BY
BIRTHPLACE
California
SWORN IN
February 18, 1988
SUCCEEDED BY
LAW SCHOOL
Harvard
Kennedy, his wife Mary, and his son Gregory | Credit: CNN/Frank Stork/Sacramento Bee/ZUMAPRESS
Personal Life and Education
Anthony Kennedy was born on July 23, 1936, in Sacramento, California, to a Roman Catholic family of Irish descent. His father, Anthony J. Kennedy, was a prominent attorney and influential lobbyist in the California State Legislature. His mother, Gladys McLeod, was a teacher that was active in local civic organizations. Growing up in the state capital, Kennedy was exposed politics from a young age, and he eventually worked as a page in the California State Senate. There, he first interacted with then-Governor Earl Warren
Kennedy enrolled at Stanford University, where he initially studied political science and became interested in constitutional theory. Kennedy completed his graduation requirements in three years and spent his senior year studying abroad at the London School of Economics. In 1958, he graduated from Stanford with a Bachelor of Arts and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Kennedy then attended Harvard Law School, graduated cum laude in 1961. After graduating law school, Kennedy returned to California and joined the California Army National Guard. Kennedy married Mary Davis in 1963, and together they had three children.
Kennedy with his family at the White House after being nominated to the Supreme Court by President Reagan | Credit: Frank Stork/Sacramento Bee/ZUMAPRESS
Early Career
Kennedy began his career in 1961 by working as an associate at the firm of Thelen, Marrin, Johnson & Bridges in San Francisco. After his father’s sudden sudden death in 1963, Kennedy returned to Sacramento to take over his father’s law firm.
In 1965, Kennedy joined the faculty of the McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific as an adjunct professor of constitutional law, a position he held for over twenty years. Kennedy also served on various committees and boards, including the Federal Judicial Center and the Judicial Conference of the United States.
In 1975, President Gerald Ford appointed Kennedy to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, after he was recommended to him by then-Governor Ronald Reagan. At the age of 38, Kennedy was the youngest federal appellate judge in the country at the time.
Kennedy being sworn in as an Associate Justice by Chief Justice William Rehnquist | Credit: Frank Stork/Sacramento Bee/ZUMAPRESS
Nomination to the Supreme Court
Kennedy’s path to the Supreme Court was unusual and followed one of the most contentious periods in the history of judicial confirmations. Following the retirement of Justice Lewis Powell in June 1987, President Reagan initially nominated Robert Bork. Bork’s nomination was immediately politicized and eventually defeated in the Senate. Reagan then selected Douglas Ginsburg, who withdrew his name from consideration shortly after his nomination after it was reported that he had smoked weed while a student in law school. Wanting to avoid another political fight and find a nominee who could win broad bipartisan support, Reagan turned to Kennedy. On November 30, 1987, the Reagan officially nominated Kennedy.
Kennedy’s confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee were far more civil and less political than what Bork faced. On February 3, 1988, the Senate confirmed Kennedy by a unanimous vote of 97–0. After nearly eight months since Justice Powell resigned, Kennedy was sworn in on February 18, 1988.
