The Supreme Court and the Election: What's at Stake

By Herman SchwartzThis article appeared in the November 3, 2008 edition of The Nation.
October 16, 2008

The upcoming presidential election will shape the Supreme Court for decades to come. John Paul Stevens is 88, David Souter dislikes Washington and the 75-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been treated for cancer. One or more of these liberal Justices will probably leave the bench in the next four years. The replacement of one or two of them by a conservative would mean a rollback of key rulings of recent years.

Roe v. Wade has drawn the most attention, but many other liberal rulings of the past twenty years that were decided by 5-to-4 or 6-to-3 votes could be reversed. Even if these decisions are not overruled outright, conservative judges can obtain the same result by redefining what is protected, erecting procedural hurdles or forcing repeated expensive litigation. Here are some of the most important rulings that would be threatened by a McCain Court:

The balance on the Supreme Court is one of the most important consequences of the U.S. election. It is nothing short of a miracle that John Paul Stevens has continued his important contributions to the court at age 88. This article is a good summary of what's at stake. Tom

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