U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy was born in Sacramento, California, on July 23, 1936, the second of his parents' three children.

His father was a well-established attorney and lobbyist and his mother, Gladys McLeod, was involved in civic activities.

An honor student in high school, Kennedy went on to Stanford University. He also spent a year at the London School of Economics.

After Stanford, he enrolled in Harvard Law School and graduated cum laude.

Kennedy returned to California after law school and practiced in San Francisco. When his father died in 1963, he returned to Sacramento to take over his practice.

During this time he befriended Ed Meese. In 1973, Meese, who was working for California governor Ronald Reagan, recruited Kennedy to help draft a plan to limit the state's spending.

Reagan recommended Kennedy for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and in 1975 Kennedy became the youngest federal judge of the day.

He was appointed to the Supreme Court, the third Catholic to serve on the nation's highest bench, by President Reagan, and assumed that office on February 18, 1988.

Kennedy is married to Mary Davis and the couple has three children.

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