The Supreme Court and Political Affiliation

The Supreme Court and Political Affiliation 

        The Supreme Court, comprised of nine justices, is one of the most influential aspects of our modern government. Their authority allows them to basically have control over the cultural atmosphere of our nation by deciding landmark cases that usually have large legislative implications. 

        It is considered imperative that the justices are, generally speaking, unaffiliated with a specific political ideology. They are meant to operate with the benefit of the nation in mind, while attempting to use sound judgement and years of judicial knowledge and prowess as their guide. However, presidents are able to appoint a justice when there is a vacancy on the court. When this happens, they tend to appoint a judge who shares similar political viewpoints with themselves, and this assists in furthering that presidents political agenda. This is problematic, especially when a president gets to appoint more than one justice. As of now, President Trump has been able to appoint two justice, and there is speculation that there might be cause for a third appointment before his presidency comes to an end. That would leave three out of the nine justices as appointed by Trump-- as of now, five out of the nine justices are considered to lean on the conservative side. This possible appointment would raise that to six out of the nine. This has caused a great deal of concern for people worried about the bias of the Supreme Court. 

       Although justices are not supposed to act based off of political ideologies, it is commonly accepted that their affiliations have at least a base influence on their decisions. This shapes the political atmosphere of the country, especially when landmark cases are debated. It is an especially volatile time for the court, with cases regarding abortion, Transgenders in the military, and gun laws being considered for discussion in the upcoming session. Many of these cases will have serious societal implications, so it will be interesting to observe as they play out. 

  

"How the Supreme Court will shape the 2020 presidential race"

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/23/politics/supreme-court-2020-politics/index.html