Kennedy Anthony

American attorney and Judge, confirmed as Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court on 2/18/1988 stemming from a background of 13 years as Appellate Judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Sacramento, CA. Kennedy, along with a brother and sister, were the children of parents who were pillars of the community of Land Park, California, a suburb of Sacramento. Dad was Anthony J. "Bud" Kennedy, a maverick lawyer and lobbyist who financed his legal education with his winnings at poker tables. Mother Gladys was a schoolteacher and homemaker who was a lifelong civic volunteer. The family home, a house that Bud Kennedy built himself, was a setting for local interaction; "a lot of business was done at the breakfast table or back patio." Visitors included most of the community, including "the grocer stopping off for a drink after hed closed his store. You could even find the priest in there." To combat his sons chronic restlessness in elementary school, Bud got nine year old Kennedy a job as a page in the California State Senate in Sacramento, where the boy became fascinated by law. As an honor student at McClatchey High School, Kennedy won grants from the California Scholarship Foundation throughout all four years. He was such an upright teen that Bud offered him $100 in cash if he could manage to get himself arrested by the police. Altar boy Anthony opted to stay out of trouble and focus on his studies. Entering Stanford University in 1954, he studied history and political science, immersing himself with constitutional law, resuming his fascination with law as a kid working in the Senate. His diligence paid off. Finishing his college credits in three years, Kennedy spent his fourth year at the London School of Economics, returning to Stanford to graduate with his class in 1958 with a B.A. degree and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Pursuing the studies of law, he earned an LL.B. and graduated cum laude in 1961 from Harvard Law School. Kennedy began his legal career that same year as an associate with a law firm in San Francisco. Two years later his father died, at which point he moved back to Sacramento to help straighten out family matters and take over his dads law practice, of which he was the sole practitioner until he accepted partners in 1967. His endless fascination with constitutional law led to teaching the same subject one night a week in 1963 at the University of the Pacific. Using the classroom as his oasis, one night a week expanded to a part-time teaching position which he held for 23 years. The Dean of the University called Kennedy a "human hydroelectric project" who "energizes the room when he is dealing with the law." Standing ovations from students were not uncommon. After passing the US Tax Court Bar in 1971, California Governor Ronald Reagan sought Kennedys expertise in drafting a tax limitation initiative known as Proposition 1. Rejected by voters in 1973, it was the precursor to the highly controversial Proposition 13, passing in 1978, which reduced Californians property tax by 57 percent. Governor Reagan was so pleased with Kennedys work he recommended him for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Appointed by President Gerald Ford, Kennedy took the oath of office on 5/30/75. Serving as Federal Appellate Judge for 13 years, he earned a reputation for thoroughness and dedication to considering all sides of a case before making a decision. He ruled conservatively on Read less