Retired U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy reflected on his decades of service on the nation’s highest court, his lifelong commitment to civic education and his more than 50 years of teaching at University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law during a special event at the law school.

Nearly 300 community members filled the Lecture Hall on Pacific’s Sacramento Campus to hear Kennedy discuss his new book “Life, Law and Liberty: A Memoir” in conversation with Dean Michael T. Colatrella Jr.

“It was a great pleasure to spend an hour in conversation with Justice Kennedy. His judicial opinions reflect a man of great integrity, intellect and compassion,” Colatrella said.

Kennedy is McGeorge’s longest-serving faculty member, having taught constitutional law and comparative free speech from 1965 to 2019. He taught summer courses in Salzburg, Austria for nearly 30 years through the law school’s study abroad programs.

Kennedy distinguished himself throughout his career as an advocate for furthering the rule of law and upholding constitutional law, which were themes discussed during the Oct. 27 event.

“The Constitution is part of what defines the American people,” Kennedy said. “When we think of the Constitution, we think of it with a capital C, and that has been invaluable for our country. We love the Constitution. It defines who we are.”

Reflecting on his judicial philosophy, Kennedy spoke about how the Constitution’s core principles continue to guide the nation’s understanding of freedom. “It was my belief that the meaning of liberty could be found, explored and revered over time,” he said.

Kennedy was born in Sacramento and eventually took over his father’s law practice in town. He joined the law school’s adjunct faculty in 1965 during Gordon Schaber’s 34-year tenure as dean. Through Schaber's innovative leadership, and with Kennedy’s assistance, McGeorge grew into a unique living and learning environment of national stature with full accreditation by the American Bar Association, Association of American Law Schools and the Order of the Coif, an honor society for law school graduates.

“I appreciate the ways in which he has served as not just an esteemed professor to our students, but as a magnet for our program," said Omar Dajani, the Carol Olson Professor in International Law at McGeorge.

In 1974, Kennedy was nominated by President Gerald R. Ford in 1987 to serve on the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. At the age of 38, he was the youngest federal appeals judge in the country at the time of his appointment in 1975.

Kennedy was nominated to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1987. He was the 104th justice to sit on the nation’s highest court. He took his seat on the court Feb. 18, 1988, serving for three decades until his retirement on July 31, 2018. He is known for his decisions regarding LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive rights and freedoms, and affirmative action. He wrote the majority opinion for the Obergefell v. Hodges case—a landmark case that legalized same-sex marriage—which he discussed during his event at McGeorge.

“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family,” he shared. “Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness. Excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions, they ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”

Kennedy’s teaching career and impact is integral to the law school. The Anthony M. Kennedy Inn of Court is located on Pacific’s Sacramento Campus. The Inn is an organization of judges, justices, law professors, attorneys and law students dedicated to professionalism, ethics, civility and excellence in the legal profession. The Inn has won more honors from the American Inns of Court than any other Inn in the United States.

In 2019, he was named the city’s most famous resident by the Sacramento Bee.

“He knows so many people, but he always remembered people,” said Regent Consuelo María Callahan ’75, a judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2024 documentary interview. “He remembered his roots and that’s something that I just think maybe other people don’t really realize: how much he loved Sacramento, how much he loved his roots, how much he really loves all of the people at McGeorge, and how fondly he feels towards all of us.”

In 2020, the law school established the Anthony M. Kennedy Endowed Chair, which is currently held by Professor Leslie Gielow Jacobs.

In 2021, the law school partnered with the community to promote the educational outreach of the Justice Kennedy Learning Center. Housed in the Robert T. Matsui United States Courthouse in Sacramento, the Center’s mission is to foster respect for the rule of law and spotlight the independent judiciary’s role in protecting the constitutional and civil rights of all people.

McGeorge School of Law established a scholarship named after Kennedy in 1997. Since then, more than 300 students have received a full-tuition scholarship. The Anthony M. Kennedy Fellow Scholarship enables McGeorge to recruit and retain the brightest students. In 2023, the school also created the Kennedy Family Endowed Scholarship.