The National Constitution Center’s 2019 Liberty Medal will be awarded to retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, according to The Washington Times.
Kennedy will be honored for his lifetime of dedication to teaching children and adults about the Constitution.
The medal will be awarded on Oct. 27 in a ceremony at the Center in Philadelphia. The Center commended Kennedy in a statement “for his efforts to preserve, protect, and defend liberty by inspiring Americans of all ages to learn about the Constitution through civic education and civil dialogue.”
Defending Liberty
Prior to being appointed to the Supreme Court, Kennedy taught constitutional law, practiced law privately, and was a public servant. He was appointed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1975 and to the Supreme Court by Ronald Reagan in 1988.
While on the Court, Kennedy was known as a swing vote that could go either way depending on the issue at hand. He retired in July 2018 and was replaced by Brett Kavanaugh after a contentious confirmation process.
Kennedy’s Constitutional Legacy
Kennedy was the deciding vote on many major cases over his 30 years on the Supreme Court, according to The New York Times. Although he was appointed by a conservative and decided many cases consistently with that viewpoint, he ended up being the deciding vote to both affirm the right to abortion in 1973 and grant the right to gay marriage in 2015.
Other notable rulings in which Kennedy had a hand included stopping the recount after the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, affirming gun rights for self-defense, and disallowing the use of the death penalty for crimes other than murder.
While Kennedy often risked making both sides of the political aisle unhappy with his jurisprudence, it is clear that he tried hard to stay true to the Constitution as he interpreted it.
“It is an honor to join the National Constitution Center in this celebration of liberty,” Kennedy said in a statement. “The National Constitution Center teaches that it is more essential than ever for our youth to understand the meaning of our constitutional heritage, and to know the meaning of the freedom it secures. You cannot preserve what you do not revere, you cannot protect what you do not understand, you cannot defend what you do not know.”
The Liberty Medal
The Liberty Medal was first awarded in 2006, when George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were honored jointly for their humanitarian efforts to help victims of natural disasters in Southeast Asia and the Gulf Coast. according to the Center.
The medal has been given to members of both political parties as well as some who were not citizens of the U.S. Other recipients have included Nelson Mandela, Sandra Day O’Connor, Kofi Annan, Malala Yousafzai, and Colin Powell.
The National Constitution Center is a private non-profit that fosters education and debate about the U.S. Constitution “on a non-partisan basis” and champions freedom and liberty.
Kennedy will be the first Supreme Court justice to receive the award in retirement.
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