Justice Kennedy is my "favorite" justice for the very specific reason that I detect within him a genuine and sincere honesty in interpreting the Constitution. Unlike, say, Scalia and Ginsburg, personal politics, personal religious beliefs, and other improper influences on the judicial process do not have much of an effect on Kennedy. The example you've quoted here is a perfect illustration of this.

When I came across Bowers for the very first time as a 1st year law student, I declared to my entire criminal law class and our very conservative professor that it was the most poorly-reasoned and poorly-written opinion issued by the Supreme Court in its entire modern history. My friends and classmates can tell you that I was consistent in that belief through the years since then. I was, therefore, not in the least bit surprised that none other than Justice Kennedy authored the opinion that overruled Bowers.

"Unlike, say, Scalia and Ginsburg, personal politics, personal religious beliefs, and other improper influences on the judicial process do not have much of an effect on Kennedy."

We all have a lense through which we sift the facts. Otherwise, you cannot sift them in a rational way. Justice Kennedy is no exception to this rule.

I always get the feeling that I'm getting it straight-up from Souter and Thomas.

Obviously O'Connor is at the other end of the spectrum, but I don't see Kennedy that far behind.

I hardly think that I was being unfair. Certainly one can change one's mind--take a fresh look at matters. However, I doubt that was the case with Kennedy. At the time of his 1986 speech he was at such a point in his career that one would think that his views on such issues as federaliam and unenumerated rights were clearly defined and based on solid ground. From 1965 to 1988, he was a Professor of Constitutional Law at the McGeorge School of Law. He had served on the 9th Circuit for more than a decade. In fact, he was less than two years away from an appointment to the Supreme Court when he gave that speech. At that point he knew President Reagan and his aides were paying close attentions to Judge Kennedy's views. Hence, the circumstances are such that I think we must question his motives in writing an opinion such as Lawrence. At the very least he should have dropped a footnote to explain the abondonment of his earlier views.