JUDGE JUDITH W. KENNEDY, the daughter of the late Justice, read from a statement in which she said that her father would “find it deeply troubling if the Supreme Court strikes down laws that help preserve religious freedom as part of an effort to reverse the setback to religious liberty that came with Justice Kennedy’s departure.” KENNEDY added: “And it would be a danger to the First Amendment’s guarantees that government should not favor or disfavor religious practice. The court would, I believe, be making a grave mistake.”
On the matter of religious freedom, in the abortion case, though it had been presumed to the court to favour the women’s right to an abortion, the justices had seemed divided. Writing for his colleagues in the court, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy was cautious in describing the issue, saying: “Who is the person whose religious beliefs command a restrictive state-imposed prohibition of their exercise of religion? And how do we know that when the abortion clinic challenges the pro-life ordinance?”
Justice Kennedy indicated that he favoured the women who had come before the court for this case.