Updated Jun 28, 2018

Kennedy's shift to the left of the Supreme Court

Although a Reagan appointee, Anthony Kennedy is ending his tenure in the Supreme Court on the liberal side of the ideological spectrum. Each line in the chart below tracks the ideological lean of a Supreme Court justice over the past 80 years, and shows how Kennedy swung left during his last couple of years on the bench.

Why it matters: Whoever President Trump appoints to replace Kennedy will likely be more conservative than Kennedy, and will reshape the Supreme Court.

"Dynamic Ideal Point Estimation via Markov Chain Monte Carlo for the U.S. Supreme Court, 1953-1999, " Andrew D. Martin and Kevin M. Quinn. Get the data. Chart: Lazaro Gamio/Axios
"Dynamic Ideal Point Estimation via Markov Chain Monte Carlo for the U.S. Supreme Court, 1953-1999, " Andrew D. Martin and Kevin M. Quinn. Get the data. Chart: Lazaro Gamio/Axios
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