Brett Kavanaugh is now seated – controversially – on the U.S. Supreme Court, having survived allegations of sexual misconduct and a contentious confirmation process in replacing the retired Anthony Kennedy.

One thing on which most all agree as the nation’s highest court begins a new term this week: The impact is likely to be generational.

Frank Colucci, an associate professor of political science at Purdue University Northwest who specializes in constitutional law, assesses the transition. Kennedy served as a critical swing member of the nine-person court, casting the deciding vote in key cases involving abortion rights, affirmative action, religious expression, gay rights, and executive power to detain suspected terrorists.

With  Kavanaugh’s appointment, is a new, more conservative direction a foregone conclusion?

In the last term, both Chief Justice John Roberts and libertarian-leaning Neil Gorsuch sided with the liberal justices more often than did Kennedy.

Colucci is the author of Justice Kennedy’s Jurisprudence: The Full and Necessary Meaning of Liberty, a leading academic study of the retired 82-year-old justice.