[8] In 1979, he earned a Bachelor of Civil Law (master's) degree with first class honours from Oxford University, where he was a member of Magdalen College and studied under Rupert Cross and John H.C.

[17] In addition to ushering in the passage of campaign finance and product liability reforms for Roemer's administration, Kennedy led the effort to consolidate Louisiana's four boards of higher education into one.

At the time, nearly 500,000 people had valuable unclaimed property, such as old bank accounts, stocks, bonds, utility deposits and other lost or forgotten money that had been turned over to the state.

Kennedy said the efforts helped ensure Louisiana residents had a tax system that was as "fair, easy, and convenient as possible", adding, "We look upon taxpayers as our customers...not our enemies.

As treasurer, Kennedy structured a deal to auction off part of the annual payments in exchange for a lump sum to hedge against the possibility that the tobacco companies could go bankrupt.

[67] In 2015, Governor Jindal announced a plan to sell the remainder of the tobacco settlement in one lump sum of $751 million to help him address budget shortfalls rather than accepting the remaining $1.2 billion in annual payments.

[86][87] Kennedy, who had supported Vitter for governor the previous year, won the jungle primary and faced Democrat Foster Campbell in a December 10 runoff election.

DeVos replied that the Trump administration budget proposal would give parents and students more power and opportunity so that American education could again become "the envy of the world".

A January 2018 Huffington Post article reported: "Since being elected to the Senate a year ago, Kennedy ... has made a name for himself on Capitol Hill with his wit, humor and penchant for folksy expressions―a notable feat in a place where jargon and arcane procedure tend to reign supreme".

During the meetings, the two sides discussed election interference, upholding nuclear arms treaties, maintaining peace in Syria, and respecting Ukrainian sovereignty.

The delegation was criticized for visiting the country during Fourth of July celebrations and for holding the talks just days after an incident in the United Kingdom in which a couple were poisoned by a suspected Russian nerve agent.

The United States Department of Treasury, because they've got the names and the addresses, and right now they've got the money—$26 billion that they are holding that belongs to the American people, and they won't give it back.

[126] After Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death in 2020, Kennedy supported Trump's nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to fill the Supreme Court vacancy.

He sent letters to Cox and AT&T urging them to put "more elbow grease" into restoring internet to the state and to be transparent with customers about the estimated timelines for getting service back.

He called the bill "a subsidy to Big Tech", adding, "These are extraordinary American companies that Congress just helped, but they're very profitable, and the supply of chips is growing now.

[165] By late 2022, there was again speculation that Kennedy might run for governor in the 2023 election, when Edwards would be term limited, but he ended the rumors on the second day of the 118th Congress by announcing he again would prefer to stay in the Senate.

Kennedy and Sinema said of the bill, "One of the best ways we can avoid escalation (and bring this conflict to a close) is by ensuring that the investments America has already made pay off instead of being wasted, lost or diverted.

[177] In September 2023, Kennedy read explicit passages from All Boys Aren't Blue and Gender Queer during a Senate judiciary hearing on book banning.

[179] Before the bill, the VA reported veterans who needed financial assistance to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System without due process.

[184] In May 2024, Kennedy quashed the judicial nomination of U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn by questioning her about the sexual harassment that resulted from her decision to allow an inmate who claimed to be transgender to transfer to a women's prison.

[189] On September 17, 2024, in a hearing on rising racially motivated hate crimes in the United States, Kennedy claimed that pro-Palestinian figures promoted antisemitism.

He claimed such a move would violate the Constitution and called it a "a crusade to undermine the United States' Supreme Court's legitimacy and the credibility of the federal judiciary.

In 2008, while serving as Louisiana treasurer, he criticized Senator Mary Landrieu for opposing legislation that would have prevented illegal immigrants from receiving Social Security benefits.

[224] In 2019, Kennedy supported Trump's effort to build a border wall and said he believed it could save taxpayers money by reducing the number of migrants on government benefits.

[228] He supported the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, saying, "today's decision to return the issue of abortion to the American people and the states corrects a legal and moral error.

He introduced a bill to prevent the VA from reporting veterans to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System without due process if they seek financial support.

"[241] He was one of three Republican senators, with Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, to vote with the entirety of the Democratic caucus on May 16, 2018, to overturn the FCC's repeal of net neutrality.

"[243] In January 2019, Kennedy was one of 11 Republican senators to vote to advance legislation intended to block Trump's intent to lift sanctions against three Russian companies.

[246] In October 2023, Kennedy visited China as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The delegation also met Foreign Minister Wang Yi, National People's Congress Standing Committee Chairman Zhao Leji, and Shanghai Communist Party Secretary Chen Jining.