Report: Kennedy will stay on high court until at least 2012

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy plans to stay on the bench until at least 2012, according to a report.

Kennedy has told friends and family that he plans to remain a member of the Supreme Court for at least three more years, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday. That would keep the 74-year-old justice on the bench through the remainder of President Barack Obama's first term.

The Reagan appointee is seen as a centrist member of the court who leans to the right and whose vote is often decisive in high-profile cases. If Obama were to encounter an opportunity to replace Kennedy — or any of the four other justices who are seen as more reliably conservative than Kennedy — it could significantly shift the balance of the high court away from conservatives, who have dominated for some time now.

Obama has had an opportunity to name two Supreme Court justices, both to replace justices considered members of the court's liberal bloc. The Senate last year confirmed Sonia Sotomayor to replace the retiring Justice David Souter, and the Senate will vote in coming weeks on confirming Elena Kagan to replace the retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.