The Drifters

U.S. Supreme Court Justices may come to the bench with an ideological point of view, but it changes

Corbis

Supreme Court Justice Hugo L. Black

Has Anthony Kennedy gone green? The Supreme Court Justice clinched a victory for environmentalists when he joined in the court's 5-4 majority authorizing federal regulation of greenhouse gases from cars.

In a sense, it was familiar ground for Kennedy, whose spot near the court's ideological center often makes his vote determinative in tight cases. But the decision's high-profile rebuke to the Bush Administration makes you wonder whether Kennedy is shifting left.

If so, he wouldn't be the first Justice on the move. Contrary to everything we think we know about Justices, they're ideological drifters, according to a surprising study scheduled for...

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