559 U. S. ____ (2010)

SONNY PERDUE, GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA, et al. ,
PETITIONERS v. KENNY A., by his next friend<linebreak> LINDA WINN, et al.

on writ of certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the eleventh circuit

Justice Kennedy , concurring.

If one were to ask an attorney or a judge to name the significant cases of his or her career, it would be unsurprising to find the list includes a case then being argued or just decided. When immersed in a case, lawyers and judges find within it a fascination, an intricacy, an importance that transcends what the detached observer sees. So the pending or just completed case will often seem extraordinary to its participants. That is the dynamic of the adversary system, the system that so well serves the law.

It is proper for the Court today to reject the proposition that all enhancements are barred; still, it must be understood that extraordinary cases are presented only in the rarest circumstances.

With these comments, I join in full the opinion of the Court.