Life, Law & Liberty

Anthony M. Kennedy began his service as a Supreme Court Justice in 1988 and assumed senior status in 2018. Born in Sacramento, California, he received his BA from Stanford University and the London School of Economics, and his LLB from Harvard Law School. Starting in private practice in San Francisco and Sacramento, he was also a professor of constitutional law at the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. He has served in numerous positions during his career, including as a member of the California Army National Guard, the board of the Federal Judicial Center, and two committees of the Judicial Conference of the United States: the Advisory Committee on Codes of Conduct, and the Committee on Pacific Territories. He was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1975. Between his service on the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, he wrote nearly 1,000 opinions over more than forty years on the federal bench. Justice Kennedy currently lives in Virginia with his wife, Mary, continuing to work on important projects for the Court, and is a proud father and grandfather.