1973 - Helps draft Proposition 1, a California ballot initiative to limit state spending, which later fails.

May 30, 1975-February 2, 1988 - Judge, Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

November 11, 1987 - To fill the seat vacated by Justice Lewis Powell's retirement, President Ronald Reagan nominates Judge Kennedy to the Supreme Court after the confirmation failures of nominees Robert Bork and Douglas Ginsburg.

February 3, 1988 - The Senate votes unanimously to confirm his appointment.

February 18, 1988 - Kennedy is sworn in as the 104th justice of the Supreme Court.

June 29, 1992 - Angers conservatives by coauthoring, with Justices O'Connor and Souter, the opinion of the court in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, to uphold Roe v. Wade.

March 1, 2005 - Writes the majority opinion for the 5-4 ruling in Roper v. Simmons stating that executing killers who were under age 18 when they committed their crimes is unconstitutional.

April 18, 2007 - Voting with the conservatives in the 5-4 decision in Gonzales v. Carhart, Justice Kennedy writes the majority opinion to uphold the nationwide ban on partial birth abortions.

June 12, 2008 - In Boumediene v. Bush, he writes the majority 5-4 opinion, assessing that the language of the Constitution grants the Guantanamo Bay prison detainees the right to seek habeas corpus.

June 25, 2008 - Writes in Kennedy v. Louisiana the majority opinion, 5-4, overturning the state's death penalty statute for child rape when death was not a circumstance of the case.

June 25, 2012 - In overturning three sections of Arizona's 2010 immigration law, the opinion of the court, in Arizona v. United States, is written by Justice Kennedy.