President Trump may be just getting started. His second Supreme Court pick to replace Anthony Kennedy will tip the balance of judicial philosophies on the court toward more conservative. It was already tipping in that direction, but not decidedly so as Kennedy would sometimes align himself with the judicial activists on social issues.
The left and the media are in Bork mold. They are already taking up arms to character assassinate whomever the President nominates to replace Justice Kennedy. They believe the stakes are so high that they’ll take their resistance to new lows to bury President Trump’s selection.
Their goal is to delay the nomination process until after the 2018 midterm election. The Democrats will then try and take control of the Senate to stop any new candidate from being considered. They want an eight member court until a democrat wins the presidency.
It’s a long shot, but to liberals, the Supreme Court has been their way to force their sense of morality on the rest of society. The laws of the United States should have the consent of the governed and therefore, be created by the legislative branch.
But when liberal ideas had little support and were rejected by voters, their strategies changed to activist judges to create the law or “right” for them. And nothing more dear to leftists is a predominately liberal activist philosophy on the high court.
The Disappearing Liberal Power
The 5 - 4 tipping to conservative may be just the beginning of President Trump’s campaign to MAGA. Before he’s done, the court may go from tipping conservative to being fully lopsided.
Considering the ages of both of President Bill Clinton’s appointees on the court, Donald Trump may get two more picks before he’s done. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 85 years old and Justice Stephen Breyer will be 80 in August.
It’s a fact that none of us can work or live forever in this life. If either of these two justices has to step down while Donald Trump is president, the court will weigh heavily conservative going to 6 - 3 or possibly even 7 - 2.
If Donald Trump wins a second term, he will have another six and a half years as president and both of these Justices will have to outlast him. In the summer of 2024, Ginsburg will be 91 and Breyer will be 86.
2024 would be Donald Trump’s last year in office. He would be considered a lame duck president and it will be a presidential election year. Even so, if a vacancy opens up on the court and the Republicans still control the Senate, it is almost certain that he would have another nominee confirmed despite the uproar from the media and the left.
This is the nightmare outcome that would devastate liberal’s judicial activism strategy for several decades to come. With this power gone, many radicals on the left will have a meltdown and riot. Unfortunately, if they don’t get their way, they want to “burn it down.”
If neither of these two Justices retires before the 2020 or 2024 election, the fight for the presidency will be all about the Supreme Court. If Donald Trump wins and these two Justices hang in through his second term, the 2024 election will be a battle for the ages with voter turnout the highest ever.