Bruce K. Gould Book Award
Learn more about the program that's right for you
About
Bruce K. Gould Book Award 2026
.png)
SAVE THE DATE
Thursday, November 12, 2026
Touro Law Center
225 Eastview Drive • Central Islip, NY 11722
**This is a ticketed event. Tickets will be distributed by lottery. Additional information on ticket distribution will be provided closer to the event.**
COMPLETE THE TICKET ENTRY FORM
About the Book:
Justice Anthony Kennedy was at the ideological center of a closely divided U.S. Supreme Court for thirty years. Often writing landmark opinions in pivotal cases, he affirmed and redefined liberty for our nation—protecting political speech, upholding a woman’s right to choose, abolishing the death penalty for minors, and legalizing gay marriage.
How did a devout Catholic, conservative in both temperament and politics, and a 1988 Reagan appointee to the Court, end up delivering some of the most consequential decisions of our time? To understand Anthony Kennedy is to know that, for him, judging is independent of personal politics, preferences, and religious beliefs. His conviction that legal decisions must be driven by neutral principles led him to rulings that were both celebrated and criticized across political lines. He was sometimes called a “swing vote,” but the term misunderstands his approach. In Justice Kennedy’sown words, “The cases swing, I don’t.”
In Life, Law & Liberty, Kennedy tells his story—filled with personal heartbreak and incredible accomplishment—and reflects on the nuanced role of a judge. A product of the American West, he became a deeply principled guardian of the justice, fairness, and liberty our Constitution guarantees. The last justice to be unanimously confirmed to the Court, Justice Anthony Kennedy shows us that thoughtful, respectful discourse is necessary in these otherwise fractious times.
Tracing a journey that includes a half century of service to our nation, Kennedy’s memoir reminds us what it means to live with optimism and decency and inspires us to cherish our democracy.
The Bruce K. Gould Book Award is presented annually to the author of an outstanding publication related to the law, legal profession, or legal system. The award is named for its benefactor Bruce K. Gould, an alumnus of Touro Law Center, class of 1984. Mr. Gould was a principal in Gould Publications, a family-owned publishing company in Florida specializing in law books and treatises for legal and law enforcement communities. The business was started in 1953 by Mr. Gould’s father and mother and over the years has grown to be one of the leading statutory law book publishers in the country until the publishing assets were acquired in December 2004. Mr. Gould is a founding member and second president of Touro Law Center’s Alumni Association, an active member of Touro Law Center’s Board of Governors, was Chairman of the Law Center’s Capital Campaign Committee and in 1994, endowed the Law Center’s First Faculty Chair.
Previous Bruce K. Gould Book Award Recipients:
|
.jpg)