You’ve probably heard the term "swing vote" a thousand times. In the world of the U.S. Supreme Court, it usually conjures up an image of a strategic, calculating politician in a robe. But for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, the role was something much more personal, and honestly, a lot more complicated.
He didn't see himself as a pendulum swinging between two teams. He famously said, "The cases swing, I don't." That might sound like typical judicial posturing, but if you look at his thirty years on the bench, it’s basically the only way to make sense of a guy who could side with the liberals on gay marriage and the death penalty one day, then pivot to hand the conservatives a massive win on Citizens United or Bush v. Gore the next.
The Man Who Held the Middle
Anthony Kennedy wasn't supposed to be the most powerful jurist in America. He was actually President Ronald Reagan’s third choice. After the disastrous Robert Bork nomination (which gave us the verb "to be borked") and the Douglas Ginsburg "pot-smoking" scandal, the White House just wanted someone who could actually get confirmed. Kennedy, a quiet, scholarly Californian from the Ninth Circuit, fit the bill. He sailed through with a 97-0 vote in 1988.
For a long time, he shared the "middle" with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. But once she retired in 2006, the Supreme Court basically became the Kennedy Court.
If you were a lawyer arguing a case during those years, you weren't really talking to the other eight justices. You were talking to Tony. He was the "Super Median." You watched his face for a twitch, a frown, or a specific line of questioning about "dignity"—a word he used so much it practically became his judicial trademark.
Why "Dignity" Was His North Star
A lot of legal scholars hate the way Kennedy wrote. They find it airy, philosophical, and sometimes just plain mushy. But Kennedy was obsessed with the idea of individual liberty as it relates to human dignity. This is where he broke most sharply from his conservative colleagues like Antonin Scalia.
📖 Related: Whos Winning The Election Rn Polls: The January 2026 Reality Check
While Scalia was looking at the original 1787 meaning of words, Kennedy was looking at what those words became.
The LGBTQ+ Legacy
This is arguably where he changed the country forever. Kennedy authored the four major decisions that moved gay rights from the fringes to the center of American law:
- Romer v. Evans (1996): Striking down a Colorado law that barred protections for gay people.
- Lawrence v. Texas (2003): Decriminalizing private, consensual same-sex activity.
- United States v. Windsor (2013): Killing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
- Obergefell v. Hodges (2015): Establishing the right to same-sex marriage nationwide.
In Obergefell, he wrote that same-sex couples were seeking "equal dignity in the eyes of the law." For him, the Constitution wasn't just a static document; it was a "charter" that future generations would learn the meaning of over time.
The Decisions That Made the Left Cringe
If you think that makes him a closet liberal, you haven't looked at his record on the First Amendment or federalism. Kennedy was a "free speech absolutist" in ways that often infuriated the left.
Take Citizens United v. FEC (2010). Kennedy wrote the majority opinion that allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts of money on political broadcasts. To him, the government shouldn't be in the business of deciding whose "voice" is allowed in the marketplace of ideas. He didn't see it as "corporate greed"; he saw it as preventing government censorship.
👉 See also: Who Has Trump Pardoned So Far: What Really Happened with the 47th President's List
He also provided the fifth vote in Bush v. Gore, effectively ending the 2000 election recount. And he was a reliable vote for scaling back the Voting Rights Act and limiting the power of administrative agencies.
The Death Penalty and "Evolving Standards"
Kennedy also fundamentally shifted how we handle the death penalty. He wasn't against capital punishment entirely, but he hated seeing it applied to people he felt couldn't be held fully "culpable" by the state.
In Roper v. Simmons (2005), he wrote the opinion that banned the death penalty for anyone who committed their crime while under the age of 18. He cited "evolving standards of decency" and even looked at international laws and psychological studies to argue that teenagers' brains just aren't the same as adults'. Later, in Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008), he helped ban the death penalty for the rape of a child where the victim didn't die, arguing that the ultimate punishment should be reserved for the ultimate crime: taking a life.
What Most People Get Wrong
There's a common misconception that Kennedy was "unpredictable."
Honestly, he was actually pretty consistent if you understood his specific brand of libertarian-leaning conservatism. He hated government coercion. He loved the "marketplace of ideas." He believed in the "majesty" of the law.
✨ Don't miss: Why the 2013 Moore Oklahoma Tornado Changed Everything We Knew About Survival
He was also a stickler for civility. In an era where politics was becoming a blood sport, Kennedy was known for being incredibly kind to his clerks and colleagues, even the ones who regularly shredded his opinions in their dissents. He used to take his clerks on "art walks" and suggested readings like Plato or Sophocles to help them understand the deeper meaning of liberty.
The 2018 Exit and the Shift
When Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement in June 2018, it felt like the end of an era. And it was. By stepping down during the Trump administration, he essentially allowed the seat to be filled by Brett Kavanaugh—one of his former law clerks—which shifted the court’s median significantly to the right.
The "Kennedy Court" was over. The era of the "swing vote" mostly vanished, replaced by a much more predictable 6-3 conservative majority that eventually overturned Roe v. Wade—a precedent Kennedy had famously helped save in 1992 through Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
How to Understand His Impact Today
If you want to track Kennedy's influence in the current legal landscape, keep an eye on these specific areas:
- First Amendment cases: Look for "compelled speech" arguments (like the recent 303 Creative case about wedding websites). This is the direct descendant of Kennedy’s logic in Masterpiece Cakeshop.
- The Eighth Amendment: Watch how the court handles "cruel and unusual punishment" for juveniles. The precedents he set are currently some of the most debated in criminal law.
- The "Dignity" Doctrine: While the current court has moved away from this language, it remains the foundation for almost all modern civil rights litigation for the LGBTQ+ community.
To really get his perspective, you can't just read the headnotes of his cases. You have to read his actual prose. It’s dense, it’s sometimes a bit grandiloquent, but it explains a man who genuinely believed that the Supreme Court was the ultimate guardian of the individual against the state.
Whether you think he was a hero of liberty or a judicial activist who went too far, you can't deny that for three decades, the United States was basically living in Anthony Kennedy's world. We're still just trying to figure out how to navigate the one he left behind.
Next Steps for Deepening Your Knowledge:
- Read the full text of the majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) to see his "dignity" argument in its purest form.
- Compare his concurrence in Texas v. Johnson (1989) (the flag-burning case) with his majority opinion in Citizens United to understand his "free speech" philosophy.
- Research the "Joint Opinion" in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) to see how he, O'Connor, and Souter attempted to find a middle ground on abortion.