Biography
Anthony Kennedy served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1988 until 2018. He authored the majority opinion in Citizens United v. FEC, the decision that removed the federal restriction on independent political spending by corporations and unions.
Appointment and Tenure
President Ronald Reagan nominated Kennedy on November 30, 1987 to the seat vacated by Lewis F. Powell Jr. The Senate confirmed him on February 3, 1988. He had served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since 1975. Kennedy assumed senior status on July 31, 2018, ending a thirty-year tenure on the Court.
Citizens United v. FEC
Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, decided January 21, 2010. The Court held that the restrictions in 2 U.S.C. §441b on independent expenditures from corporate general treasury funds were invalid, overruling Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce. In the same decision the Court upheld, by a separate 8-1 vote in Part IV of Kennedy’s opinion, the disclaimer and disclosure requirements of BCRA §§201 and 311 as applied to the advertisements and film at issue.
The two halves of the decision point in different directions and both bear on digital campaigning: the first removed a limit on who may fund independent political advertising, while the second preserved the requirement that such advertising identify its funder. Subsequent litigation over political advertising, independent-expenditure groups and disclosure has cited the decision on both counts.
Sources
- 01.
Federal Judicial Center. Kennedy, Anthony McLeod — Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges. Source for the birth year, the November 30, 1987 nomination to the seat vacated by Lewis F. Powell Jr., Senate confirmation on February 3, 1988, prior service on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1975, and assumption of senior status on July 31, 2018.
- 02.
Supreme Court of the United States. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, No. 08-205. (2010). Slip opinion hosted by the Federal Election Commission. Source for the January 21, 2010 decision date, Kennedy's authorship of the opinion of the Court, the holding invalidating 2 U.S.C. §441b's restrictions on independent corporate expenditures, and the Court's separate holding in Part IV upholding the BCRA §§201 and 311 disclaimer and disclosure requirements.