Almost everyone realizes by now that nominating justices to the Supreme Court is one of the charges of a President that has the potential for the longest and most far-reaching effects on our nation.
McCain and Obama are such polar opposites in their ideologies that it’s not hard to imagine the kind of nominees they would each be looking to place in office. It could be an important question for this election as there are currently three liberal leaning justices who could potentially be leaving the Supreme Court over the next four years.
The two oldest justices, John Paul Stevens who is 88 and Ruth Bader Ginsburg who is 75 could potentially leave at any time. 68-year-old David Souter has also spoken longingly about returning to civilian life. Of course, all three could possibly stay on if McCain were to win (although Stevens would have to break the record for the oldest serving justice ever which is held by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who retired at 90).
So what would the court do if Obama were to win? If Obama wins and those three justices retire, Obama will have (most likely) a Congress who supports him and will be able to place almost anyone he chooses in the Supreme Court. What can we expect from such a court?
I came across a list of the top ten things we can expect from an Obama Supreme Court at the Committee for Justice Blog. The list is actually based on a very good article by the National Journal Magazine called Depending on who wins the presidency, the Supreme Court could turn sharply to the right or see its first crusading liberal justice in many years. I encourage you to read it.
TOP TEN THINGS TO EXPECT FROM AN OBAMA SUPREME COURT
- expanding and perpetuating the use of racial preferences
- creating new constitutional rights to physician-assisted suicide and human cloning
- expanding judicial oversight of military detentions and CIA interrogations
- prohibiting tuition vouchers for religious schools
- banning the death penalty
- creating new constitutional rights to massive government welfare and medical care programs
- stripping “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance
- eroding property rights
- ordering all 50 states to bless gay marriage
- requiring taxpayers to fund essentially unlimited abortion rights
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