Kennedy, Anthony McLeod

US jurist

judge on US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 1975-1987

Supreme Court justice 1987--

wrote decisions for Lee v. Weisman 1992 (5-4, clergy cannot offer prayers at public school graduations), Miller v. Johnson 1995 (5-4, 11th Congressional district in Georgia is unconstitutional because race was "predominant factor" in its creation), Romer v. Evans 1996 (6-3, Colorado cannot bar passage of local laws explicitly protecting homosexuals from discrimination), City of Boerne v. Flores 1997 (6-3, Congress cannot force states to provide special exemptions from primarily secular laws with incidental impact on religious practices), Lawrence v. Texas 2003 (6-3, states cannot ban private adult consensual homosexual conduct)

• "The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is besides the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech."