What to Know
- Justice Kennedy's retirement sparked a national debate about the politicization of the Supreme Court.
- Kennedy's replacement, Brett Kavanaugh, went through an intense nomination process.
- Kennedy was considered a swing vote on the court. Kavanaugh served in President George W. Bush's administration as a White House lawyer.
Former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired last year from the nation's high court, will receive the Liberty Medal from the Constitution Center in Philadelphia in October, the center announced Monday.
Kennedy spent 30 years on the court, and was considered by legal experts to be a key swing vote on many issues as the court became more split ideologically in the last decade.
He retired July 31, 2018.
Kennedy will receive the medal, one of Philadelphia's highest civic honors, at a ceremony Oct. 27 at the Constitution Center on the north end of Independence Mall.
"It is an honor to join the National Constitution Center in this celebration of liberty," Kennedy said in a release. "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."
Kennedy's retirement began a bruising nomination process for his eventual replacement, Brett Kavanaugh.
