Kennedy Reigns Supreme on Court

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy's impact is likely to grow next term. (Melina Mara/twp - The Washington Post)

"He is a man in the middle, and the man in the middle is fully capable of causing muddle," said Douglas A. Kmiec, a Pepperdine University law professor.

The pressure on Kennedy could mount next term, when the court will rule on the constitutionality of a federal law banning the procedure opponents call "partial birth" abortion, and will decide whether local governments may consider students' race when assigning them to public schools.

Though Kennedy is on record in favor of Roe v. Wade , the 1973 decision that recognized a right to abortion, he dissented angrily from a 5 to 4 ruling in 2000 that struck down a state law banning partial-birth abortion.

That would seem to commit him to upholding the federal ban, legal analysts said, except that the 2000 case is binding precedent and Kennedy may "be acutely aware of a mere personnel change on the court causing a radical shift," Siegel said.

Kennedy has always voted against affirmative action, most recently in 2003 when he voted against race-conscious admissions policies at the University of Michigan's law school and undergraduate program.

But the cases the court has agreed to hear next term involve compulsory public education for students as young as kindergarten age. They also present the problem of how public schools can avoid resegregation, at a time when residential segregation persists and court-ordered school desegregation is largely a thing of the past.

Under the circumstances, legal analysts do not all agree that Kennedy necessarily relishes his situation.

"I'm not certain it's an enviable position to be in," Siegel said. "It's quite a burden to bear."