Did you say George Bush? Please. Dick Cheney? Getting warmer, but no. Karl Rove? Joe Lieberman? Nancy Pelosi? Harry Reid? John Roberts?

No, no, no, no and no.

The most powerful person in American government, and possibly the most powerful person in the country, is a former Constitutional Law professor at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California named Anthony McLeod Kennedy.

I know what you’re saying. You’re saying, “But ‘Brosa, he’s just one of nine Justices on the Court! Heck, he’s not even the Chief Justice! What the golly-eff-gee are you going on about?”

All true. Kennedy is just one of nine. He is not the Chief Justice. However, he’s still the most powerful man in government. Why? Because he is now the one and only “swing” voter left on the Court. The other eight justices are predictable. Roberts, Alito, Scalia and Thomas on the “right”, Souter, Breyer, Ginsberg and Stevens on the “left.” They are predictable voting blocks and vote together seemingly all of the time. The wild card left is Justice Kennedy.

Remember that article I wrote about Massachusetts v. EPA? Guess who was the swing vote in that case? Kennedy. Who was the swing vote in the case that ruled it was unconstitutional to execute minors? Kennedy. What about the partial birth abortion case decided yesterday? Wait for it… wait for it…

KENNEDY! Hell, dude even wrote the opinion. All in all, Kennedy has been the pivotal vote in a 5-4 decision in no less than nine times this term. Dude goes both ways more than Anne Heche.

Don’t believe me? I’m not the only one saying it.

(For those of you who don’t know who that last guy quoted is, he’s essentially a Constitutional law demigod. His word is bond, if you will.)

It used to be that Kennedy and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor were the swing voters who could go either way on social issues but would predictably vote with the conservative justices on matters like defining the reach of the commerce clause or which president to install. Those days are gone. I can’t be sure because he’s only been on the Court for a short period of time, but if we ever see Samuel Alito (the Justice who replaced O’Connor for all intents and purposes) vote with the liberal justices on a social issue, I’ll eat my bar card. Point is that on virtually every issue that’s close we will be seeing Kennedy cast the deciding vote for the foreseeable future.

That is what makes Kennedy so powerful. But don’t misunderstand me, my friends. I didn’t like the Gonzales v. Carhart decision yesterday, but there are plenty of conservatives who hate Kennedy wayyyyy more than you or I do.

Classy! Granted, those quotes came in 2005, so presumably they’ve calmed down since Kennedy just authored the opinion that approved a “partial birth abortion” ban. One would think they may not subtly threaten to kill him after that, but stranger things have happened.

It is odd that this much vitriol is aimed at Kennedy from the right. I mean, sure they consider him a traitor (“He was appointed by Reagan and thinks buttsex is OK?! Stone him!”), but Justices Stevens and Souter were also GOP appointees. I think what scares these people is that Kennedy seems to march to the beat of his own drum and plays the center-line well. Reactionary conservatives are threatened by that sort of uncertainty.

That uncertainty is, of course, what also makes him The Most Powerful Person in American Government. Hail to the true Philospher-King! It’s Kennedy’s world and we’re all just living in it.

Subrosa, for one, would like to welcome our new California-Born Supreme Court Justice overlord.