Anthony Kennedy | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, c. 2005 | |
| Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States | |
| In office February 18, 1988 – July 31, 2018 | |
| Nominated by | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Lewis F. Powell Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Brett Kavanaugh |
| Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit | |
| In office March 24, 1975 – February 18, 1988 | |
| Nominated by | Gerald Ford |
| Preceded by | Charles Merton Merrill |
| Succeeded by | Pamela Ann Rymer |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Anthony McLeod Kennedy July 23, 1936 Sacramento, California, U.S. |
| Spouse |
Mary Davis (m. 1963) |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | |
| Awards | Henry J. Friendly Medal (2019) |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1961–1962 |
| Rank | Private first class |
| Unit | California Army National Guard |
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 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 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 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 the controlling opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey along with Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and David Souter.