Republican Donald Trump’s victory in Tuesday’s presidential election will likely have an impact that stretches well beyond his four-year term in office. With a vacant seat in the U.S. Supreme Court, and two sitting justices in their 80s, Trump’s Supreme Court nominees will almost certainly shape American society for decades to come.
Established in 1789, the Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the country, giving it ultimate jurisdiction over federal laws. Its nine members are appointed by a sitting president. Justices are generally chosen, in part, for sharing similar ideological views to the Commander in Chief.
Appointees, who must be confirmed by a majority in the U.S. Senate, serve life-long terms unless they resign, retire or are removed by impeachment, although the latter has never happened. Current Supreme Court justices have served anywhere from six to 28 years. Two are in their 80s. The longest-serving justice, 80-year-old Anthony Kennedy, was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1988.
The Supreme Court, however, was thrown into turmoil last February with the unexpected death of conservative stalwart Antonin Scalia. In March, President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland, a left-leaning Washington D.C. judge, to fill Scalia’s vacant seat -- an appointment, which in an almost unprecedented move, was blocked by the Republican-controlled Senate. While Obama is technically able to re-nominate Garland before leaving office in January, such a scenario remains unlikely.
Several split 4-4 decisions have already been made since Scalia’s death, placing the court in a dangerous -- and ineffective -- limbo.
With a court currently divided on partisan grounds (half of the current justices were appointed by Republican presidents, whilst the other half were appointed by Democrats), perhaps the most lasting legacy of the next American leader will be their choice to fill Scalia’s seat, as well as others that may become vacant during their tenure.
Numerous Supreme Court decisions, after all, have dramatically altered the fabric of American society when hotly-contested political issues were forced into the arena of law.
In 1954, for example, a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education declared the unconstitutionality of racially segregated public schools, which were once commonplace throughout the American south. In 1973, a controversial 7-2 decision in Roe v. Wade granted American women the right to choose to terminate unwanted pregnancies. More recently, a 5-4 decision in 2015’s Obergefell v. Hodges guaranteed same-sex couples’ right to marry.
Future cases could impact everything from access to abortion to gun rights to immigration policies.
In the final presidential debate on October 19, Trump made no secret of his plan to appoint conservative Supreme Court justices.
“We need a Supreme Court that, in my opinion, is going to uphold the Second Amendment,” he said of the constitutional right to bear arms.
“The justices that I'm going to appoint will be pro-life,” he added. “They will have a conservative bent.”
