Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
When U.S. Circuit Judge Anthony Kennedy, who gave the deciding vote in today’s landmark Supreme Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage across the country, was appointed to power in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan he was “referred to as a true conservative,” according to Reagan. It’s why he made the shortlist. But Reagan’s aide’s had their doubts. In documents uncovered by Roll Call, they found “disturbing aspects” in Kennedy’s record—speaking favorably of “privacy rights” in a case regarding the Navy’s ban of “homosexual conduct,” as well as other ‘privacy right’ cases outside the military. Kennedy was the third choice in nomination after two unsuccessful picks and he went on to help strike down “Colorado’s discriminatory anti-homosexuality law, decriminalized sodomy laws, struck down the Defense of Marriage Act and on Friday legalized same-sex marriage,” according to Roll Call.