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Supreme Court Justice to Officiate Kennedy Wedding
If you are still bragging about the internet-licensed Elvis impersonator who shook up your nuptials, then you obviously have never served in Congress.
Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, son of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, will marry New Jersey school teacher Amy Petitgout on Friday, July 15. Patrick Kennedy, the most winning politician in the Kennedy family, left his Rhode Island seat last year at the end of his eighth term to pursue “a fuller life;” he announced his engagement in March. The couple will have a small, private ceremony at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis, Mass, according to The Washington Post.
In the ongoing competition for the most prestigious Congressional wedding officiant, Justice Stephen Breyer will marry the couple. Political wedding watchers may remember that President Bill Clinton officiated at former Congressman Anthony Weiner's wedding to Huma Abedin in July 2010. While Weiner earns points in the officiant scarcity category, (there have been 112 Supreme Court justices, but only 44 presidents), this weekend's wedding may be Patrick Kennedy's ticket onto Justice Breyer's exclusive Twitter and Facebook follower lists.
Breyer is not the only member of the high court who performs weddings:
- Justice Clarence Thomas officiated at Rush Limbaugh's wedding in 1994,
- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg presided over Alan Greenspan's wedding in 1983 and National Public Radio correspondent Nina Totenberg's wedding in 2000,
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor performed her former law clerk's wedding in 2009,
- Former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor officiated at Texas State Senator Eliot Shapleigh's wedding in 2009.
The Court has yet to hear arguments on whether officiant-justices may also serve as something old, new, borrowed, or blue.
Related Resources:
- US Supreme Court Justice Breyer, 72, is on Twitter, Facebook (FindLaw's Legally Weird)
- Patrick Kennedy is Engaged (Politico)
- US Supreme Court Center (FindLaw's US Supreme Court Center)
- The Presidents (White House)