Today in Supreme Court History: July 23, 1936

7/23/1936: Justice Anthony Kennedy's birthday.

Justice Anthony Kennedy

Comments

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Like Breyer and Ginsburg, Kennedy served a significant stint on the court of appeals before becoming a justice.

He was the son of a lobbyist, and his tendencies might also be suggested by Kennedy's teaching from 1965-1988. His opinions are often remembered more for basic principles than carefully spelled-out law. His opinions were not just principles, however.

Judge Kennedy in 1980 noted:

In light of the above authorities, we can concede arguendo that the reasons which led the Court to protect certain private decisions intimately linked with one's personality, see, e. g., Roe, supra, and family living arrangements beyond the core nuclear family, see, e. g., Zablocki, supra, suggest that some kinds of government regulation of private consensual homosexual behavior may face substantial constitutional challenge. See, e. g., Doe v. Commonwealth's Attorney, supra, 403 F.Supp. at 1203-05 (Merhige, J., dissenting). Such cases might require resolution of the question whether there is a right to engage in this conduct in at least some circumstances.

He referenced a line later drawn in Lawrence v. Texas:

The instant cases, however, are not ones in which the state seeks to use its criminal processes to coerce persons to comply with a moral precept even if they are consenting adults acting in private without injury to each other. Instead, these appeals require an assessment of a military regulation which prohibits personnel from engaging in homosexual conduct while they are in the service.

https://www.scotusblog.com/2018/06/justice-kennedy-the-linchpin-of-the-transformation-of-civil-rights-for-the-lgbtq-community/

Kennedy received a good deal of criticism, but it was from various parties. He dissented, for instance, in the PPACA Cases, and some think he was the primary author of the per curiam in Bush v. Gore (which four justices dissented from).

After around 40 years of judicial service, he resigned, and a former clerk replaced him. After Trump's speech to Congress this year, Kennedy was heard on on mic praising Trump.

[Supremacy Claus]

Harvard indoctrinated, Deep State, America hating piece of trash. I enjoyed seeing this whiny little weasel, hat in hand, begging every year, for salary raises due to the cost of sending kids to college. The Supreme Court should be moved to Wichita, KS, the geographical and ideological middle of the continental USA. Washington culture is despicable, and has zero credibility. They are all self dealing thieves.

In Obergefell, Kennedy was trippin' again. Marriage is to keep the male from leaving a family of children. Bastards have 10 times the social pathologies. Kennedy hallucinated that what will never, ever be more than a friendship could be falsely called a marriage.

Now, if you hate homosexuals, you want to see them tormented, you legalize homosexual marriage. Homosexual assets top the first standard deviation of het people. They make more, spend less. They have assets. The toxic lawyer profession saw family law dying, because only a suicidal fool productive person would get married today. They wanted to plunder the assets of rich homosexuals. Homosexuals are also smart. They have not fallen for this lawyer trap. Very few nitwits (10%) are getting married. This is true even in Europe where it was legal long beofre the USA. Your stupid scheme did not work, toxic lawyer profession.

I once thought that the law was biased against the male. I then spoke to a female doctor getting divorced from her male lawyer husband. What a nightmare she endured. The scumbag lawyer profession is biased against the productive party, to plunder its assets. The judge even asked the husband out for a date, after the trial. I offered to report the judge in a well crafted complaint to the Judicial Review Board. The doctor just wanted to put the matter behind her.

[mike petrik]

Nobody cares about your weird personal grievances.

[Frank Drackman]

I believe in Surpremacy Claus!

[I Callahan]

Still kicking at 89. God love him...

[Frank Drackman]

Well that's his problem, kicking instead of judging

[mike petrik]

I disagreed with much of Kennedy’s constitutional jurisprudence, but that jurisprudence was neither incoherent nor unpredictable. He basically had a broad understanding of the bill of rights, hence his findings for the furthest possible penumbra, and a narrow understanding of federal government powers, favoring instead state powers. Basically, individual rights trumped state powers which in turn trumped federal powers. He was admirably consistent.

[Sarcastr0]

I liked his outcomes, but didn't care for his jurisprudence. Not enough doctrine to guide the lower courts; all mushy.