AP Photo/Ben Margot

Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Location Washington, DC
Age 70
HLS LL.B. 1961

As the Roberts court comes into focus, all eyes are on Kennedy, the successor to Sandra Day O’Connor as the swing vote. The profound influence of a deciding vote on a deeply divided court moved James Dobson, head of the hard-right Focus on the Family, to call Kennedy “the most dangerous man in America.” With momentous cases on abortion, terrorism, and states’ rights on the docket, anxiety is high, particularly after Kennedy broke with conservatives in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, which forbade the administration to try Guantanamo detainees in military tribunals. Kennedy’s predilection for citing the decisions of international courts has caused consternation, as have the sweeping decisions he’s penned in several of the court’s most controversial cases since President Reagan appointed him in 1988. Which way he’ll swing the pendulum this term is anyone’s guess, but a good deal hangs in the balance.

However… Reportedly susceptible to the flattery of being cited: “The hottest game in current Supreme Court brief-writing is to quote Kennedy gratuitously and often,” Dahlia Lithwick of Slate wrote in July.

Google hits 479,000 for “Anthony Kennedy”; 1 for “Harvard-educated Supreme Court justice,” which links to an article about Antonin Scalia