Could anyone give me information about Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on what his ideology is...?
and how he makes decisions? please don't use wikipedia.
Based on his record, it is rock-hard to say what his ideology is. He was supposed to be a conservative, and was appointed by Reagan. However, he is not a strict constructionist conservative approaching Scalia and Thomas. He also is not as conservative as Alito or Roberts; for example, he has several times looked at foreign law to support his reasoning in his opinion, a big no-no for most conservatives. He seems to have a libertarian bent, as he was contained by the majority on cases affirming abortion rights (though limiting Roe v. Wade) as well as strongly opposing most government interference of free speech. It appears that, due to the court's current perfume, he is able to get his way. When the court divides 4-4, he can woo one side or the other to regulation it's opinion a bit in exchange for supporting that side and giving it the majority decision. In the second few years, his power has been huge, as shown by the number of 5-4 opinions where on earth he was the swing vote. As for how me makes his decisions, he undeniably does not use only traditional judicial approaches. As mentioned, he has relied on foreign laws to assert American court decisions. Also, he sometimes delves into personal philosophy, rather than solely relying on statutory interpretation technique, precedent, or distinguishing a case from precedent to reach a different opinion. Kennedy (like most supreme court justices) borders public discussion of his thought processes and political views. Justices do this so they won't reveal an opinion on an issue, and then subsequently have to recuse themselves from a case dealing with that issue if it comes formerly them. Maybe once he retires he will choose to enlighten us, but for now no one can really say-so exactly "how" he makes his decisions other than that he is a bit iconoclastic.



