KAANAPALI - U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy is scheduled to deliver the keynote address Thursday morning to the U.S. 9th Circuit Judicial Conference at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa.
The conference is to begin Monday and run through Thursday, with various forums at meetings at the resort.
Kennedy, 74, was nominated by President Ronald Reagan and took his seat on the high court in February 1988. He had served on the 9th Circuit Court since 1975. He was born in Sacramento, Calif., and received his bachelor's degree from Stanford University and his law degree from Harvard Law School.
Kennedy is considered a swing vote on the high court.
A recent story in the Los Angeles Times said that when the same-sex marriage issue comes before the Supreme Court, "the decision is likely to turn, as do nearly all important constitutional rulings these days, on the views of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy - probably the most powerful justice in the court's history."
"Kennedy sits squarely in the middle of today's ideologically polarized court," the story said.
