Author's Keywords: Justice Anthony Kennedy Supreme Court Abortion Regime	Convention All Academic Convention is the premier solution for your association's abstract management solutions needs. Submission - Custom fields, multiple submission types, tracks, audio visual, multiple upload formats, automatic conversion to pdf. Review - Peer Review, Bulk reviewer assignment, bulk emails, ranking, z-score statistics, and multiple worksheets! Reports - Many standard and custom reports generated while you wait. Print programs with participant indexes, event grids, and more! Scheduling - Flexible and convenient grid scheduling within rooms and buildings. Conflict checking and advanced filtering. Communication - Bulk email tools to help your administrators send reminders and responses. Use form letters, a message center, and much more! Management - Search tools, duplicate people management, editing tools, submission transfers, many tools to manage a variety of conference management headaches! Click here for more information.
Association: Name: Southern Political Science Association URL: http://www.spsa.net
Citation: URL: http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p67173_index.html Direct Link: HTML Code:

Ward, Artemus. "Roman Catholic Agony: Justice Anthony Kennedy and the Politics of Abortion on the U.S. Supreme Court" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, Inter-Continental Hotel, New Orleans, LA, Jan 06, 2005 <Not Available>. 2009-05-26 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p67173_index.html>

Ward, A. , 2005-01-06 "Roman Catholic Agony: Justice Anthony Kennedy and the Politics of Abortion on the U.S. Supreme Court" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, Inter-Continental Hotel, New Orleans, LA Online <.PDF>. 2009-05-26 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p67173_index.html

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript Review Method: Peer Reviewed Abstract: This paper analyzes U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s position on abortion. I suggest that Kennedy’s decisions are not a product of his personal views on the matter – he is morally opposed – nor can they be explained by his overall moderately conservative voting pattern on civil liberties issues – as the attitudinal model suggests. Indeed, his votes on later abortion cases, such as Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) could not be anticipated from his position in earlier abortion cases such as Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989) and Hodgson v. Minnesota (1990). Instead, I argue his decisions can only be explained by his understanding of larger political forces. I suggest that Kennedy’s votes and opinion are based on his conception of how the abortion issue fits into the dominant political regime. In the first part of the paper, I define the dominant “abortion regime” in terms of public opinion, the activity of social movements, and legislative trends. The evidence suggests that the American people are supportive of a woman’s right to choose an abortion, yet at the same time supportive of restrictions on that right. I then discuss Kennedy’s decisions and opinions in High Court, high-profile abortion cases. I argue that his position on abortion is consistent with larger political developments: i.e. in line with the “abortion regime.” Indeed, his judicial opinions suggest that he is not only conscious of where the larger polity is located on this issue, but that he uses this understanding to make his decisions. I pay particular attention to Casey as the recently released papers of Justice Harry A. Blackmun have shed knew light on the “agony” Justice Kennedy went through in ultimately changing his vote in the case.

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