--- title: How Anthony Kennedy's Swing Vote Made Him 'the Decider' description: Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy was dubbed "the Decider" by TIME in June 2012 for his pivotal swing vote. canonical: https://time.com/5323863/justice-anthony-kennedy-retirement-time-cover/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-27T19:51:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2024-01-24T11:30:42.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: How Anthony Kennedy's Swing Vote Made Him 'the Decider' og:description: He was also named one of TIME's 100 most influential people of 2012 og:url: https://time.com/5323863/justice-anthony-kennedy-retirement-time-cover/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e8402ee1bee8b6b/69893414cf40a8ce25c4c97a/time-anthony-kennedy-cover-the-decider.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 600 og:image:height: 338 og:image:alt: TIME Cover of Justice Anthony Kennedy og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Anthony Kennedy's Swing Vote Made Him 'the Decider' twitter:description: He was also named one of TIME's 100 most influential people of 2012 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e8402ee1bee8b6b/69893414cf40a8ce25c4c97a/time-anthony-kennedy-cover-the-decider.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Anthony Kennedy's Swing Vote Made Him 'the Decider' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy Is Retiring [Watch (HLS stream): Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy Is Retiring](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2PGIAVBT.m3u8) (1:10)  _Published 2018-06-27. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy will retire this July, paving the way for a possible confirmation showdown in Congress over President Donald Trump’s eventual pick to replace him._  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Jan 24, 2024 11:30 AM UTCPublished: Jun 27, 2018 7:51 PM UTC  Justice Anthony Kennedy was featured on the June 18, 2012 cover of TIME for his swing vote on key issues Justice Anthony Kennedy was featured on the June 18, 2012 cover of TIME for his swing vote on key issuesPhotograph by Peter Hapak for TIME  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Jan 24, 2024 11:30 AM UTCPublished: Jun 27, 2018 7:51 PM UTC Supreme Court Justice [Anthony Kennedy](http://time.com/4243675/heres-what-justice-kennedy-thinks-about-abortion/) announced Wednesday that he [will retire in July](http://time.com/5323824/anthony-kennedy-retiring-supreme-court-trump/) — a decision that will leave the court without his pivotal swing vote and give President Donald Trump the opportunity to nominate a replacement who could shift the court further to the right. “It has been the greatest honor and privilege to serve our nation in the federal judiciary for 43 years, 30 of those years on the Supreme Court,” Kennedy, 81, said in a statement on Wednesday. Kennedy was nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1987\. During his 30 years on the Supreme Court, Kennedy became a deciding vote on some of the most controversial Supreme Court rulings, including the [legalization of same-sex marriage](http://time.com/3937244/supreme-court-gay-marriage-decision/) in 2015, the _Citizens United_ decision on campaign finance in 2010, and cases [involving abortion rights](https://www.oyez.org/cases/1991/91-744). In June 2012, ahead of a [landmark ruling on Obamacare](http://swampland.time.com/2012/06/28/supreme-court-upholds-obamacare-in-landmark-decision/), Kennedy appeared on the [cover of TIME](http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20120618,00.html), labeled “The Decider.” “It is easy to forget that there is still a wide range of issues before the Justices — dull but important matters like pension-fund law, for example — that can be resolved amicably, without need for Kennedy’s deciding vote,” TIME’s Massimo Calabresi wrote then. “But on most cases of great moment, the intellectual battlefield of the Supreme Court has shrunk to the space between this one man’s ears.” The cover story preceded Kennedy’s role in [striking down](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/26/us/supreme-court-ruling.html) the heart of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, legalizing same-sex marriage and upholding Trump’s travel ban — all of which were 5-4 decisions in which he sided with the majority. --- > “” --- That year, Kennedy was also [named to TIME’s list](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2111975%5F2111976%5F2112112,00.html) of the [100 most influential people](http://time.com/collection/most-influential-people-2018/) in the world. At the time, Theodore B. Olson, who served as solicitor general of the United States under President George W. Bush, wrote about Kennedy’s “indelible and enduring stamp on American life and institutions.” “So crucial is his vote that lawyers regularly pitch their arguments in close cases overtly to Justice Kennedy,” Olson wrote. Read the rest of his write-up about Kennedy here: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5323863/justice-anthony-kennedy-retirement-time-cover/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5323863/justice-anthony-kennedy-retirement-time-cover/"},"headline":"How Anthony Kennedy's Swing Vote Made Him 'the Decider'","datePublished":"2018-06-27T19:51:04.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-24T11:30:42.000Z","description":"In a 2012 cover story, TIME labeled him \"the Decider\"","url":"https://time.com/5323863/justice-anthony-kennedy-retirement-time-cover/","keywords":["Supreme Court","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e8402ee1bee8b6b/69893414cf40a8ce25c4c97a/time-anthony-kennedy-cover-the-decider.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e8402ee1bee8b6b/69893414cf40a8ce25c4c97a/time-anthony-kennedy-cover-the-decider.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME Cover of Justice Anthony Kennedy","caption":"TIME Cover of Justice Anthony Kennedy","creditText":"Photograph by Peter Hapak for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/supreme-court/","name":"Supreme Court"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5323863/justice-anthony-kennedy-retirement-time-cover/","name":"How Anthony Kennedy's Swing Vote Made Him 'the Decider'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy Is Retiring","description":"Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy will retire this July, paving the way for a possible confirmation showdown in Congress over President Donald Trump’s eventual pick to replace him.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/2PGIAVBT/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-06-27T19:39:30.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2PGIAVBT.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5323863/justice-anthony-kennedy-retirement-time-cover/","duration":"PT1M10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5323863/justice-anthony-kennedy-retirement-time-cover/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```