Justice Kennedy’s key swing votes
For three decades on a divided Supreme Court, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy was often the swing vote who determined the fate of monumental cases.
Here are some of the key cases he decided:
Gay marriage: Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015
Kennedy was in the 5-4 majority that decided in June 2015 the Constitution that guarantees the right to same-sex marriage. The decision invalidated all existing bans on same-sex marriage across the country and solidified the rights of individuals in all 50 states to wed. It was Kennedy who authored the majority opinion.
Abortion: Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 1992
In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the court was poised to overturn the essence of Roe v. Wade — but Kennedy sided with the plurality who deemed the state is generally banned from prohibiting most abortions. He decided to affirm the “essential holding,” aka the basic principle, of Roe v. Wade.
Corporate spending in elections: Citizens United v. FEC, 2010
Kennedy sided with the court’s conservatives to rule that the government cannot limit corporate spending in elections under the First Amendment. The ruling, which both conservative and liberal groups have taken advantage of in election cycles since, has certainly made a lasting impact in politics. Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in that 5-4 decision.
Affirmative action: Fisher v. University of Texas, 2016
For the first time in his career, Kennedy sided in favor of affirmative action in a 2016 case in which the Court rejected a challenge to a race-conscious admissions program at the University of Texas at Austin. The 4-3 decision, in which Kennedy sided with the majority, determined that such a program is legal under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The country’s highest court upheld the decision of Fifth Circuit court.
