SCOTUS Practitioners: This Year Was All About Kennedy
A panel gathered at Georgetown University Law Center to take stock of the latest U.S. Supreme Court term all felt the same way: Justice Anthony Kennedy was the dominant force.
The conservative wing of the court is “going just as far to the right, and just as fast, as Justice Kennedy will let them,” said Pamela Harris, the new executive director Supreme Court Institute at Georgetown University Law Center who argued the First Amendment case Pleasant Grove City v. Summum on behalf of the Summum religious sect, The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times reported.
Panelist Gregory Coleman, a partner at Yetter, Warden & Coleman in Austin, Texas, who argued both Ricci v. Destefano and Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder before the court, said that once during oral arguments he noticed Justice Stephen Breyer asking hypothetical questions straight from a Kennedy opinion.
The panel also took time to remember retired Justice David Souter: Coleman said the justice’s politeness had the potential to trip up the lawyers appearing before him.
“One of the problems advocates had is that his questions sounded so nice that they wanted to agree,” Coleman said.
The 90-minute panel discussion was moderated by Legal Times Supreme Court reporter Tony Mauro. It can be viewed at C-SPAN’s website, and Legal Times’ live Twitter coverage of the panel can be found here.
