Award: Anthony McLeod Kennedy

Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Anthony McLeod Kennedy was awarded the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria. The award honoring his longstanding involvement with Austria, was recently presented by Ambassador Eva Nowotny.
Born in Sacramento, California, Kennedy received his B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University in 1958. He also spent part of his undergraduate time at the London School of Economics before earning an LL.B from Harvard Law School in 1961. In 1975, at  the time of his confirmation as Judge with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals by the U.S. Senate, Kennedy was the youngest appointed judge at the age of thirty-eight.  In 1988 he was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
From 1965 to 1988, Anthony McLeod Kennedy taught as Professor of Constitutional Law at the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California, which since the 1960s has been a partner school to the University of Salzburg. During this time Kennedy has promoted academic cooperation with the University of Salzburg and conducted courses in Salzburg on a regular basis. For the future, plans are being made to establish a unique postgraduate LL.M. study program in International Business Law - the only one of its kind among the German-speaking countries. The study program, which leads to a “Master of Law” awarded by McGeorge University, will primarily offer courses in European and International Economic Law and is envisaged as one-year program, consisting of one semester at the University of Salzburg, followed by one semester at the McGeorge University in Sacramento. Over the past years, Justice Kennedy has actively promoted this dynamic academic cooperation with Austria.