This election could reshape the Supreme Court — or not, depending on retirements, deaths or other unforeseen events. The only certainty is a political struggle.
Depending on who wins the presidential election and which party wins control of the Senate, the current 6-to-3 conservative supermajority could remain the same, be trimmed to 5-to-4 or expand to an even larger and more lopsided conservative majority.
The public, for the most part, understands that if there is a Supreme Court vacancy, the president's nominee will generally reflect the president's views. But there is a genuine possibility that if the Senate is controlled by the opposition party, the open seat will remain unfilled — not for months, but for years.
Indeed, there is also a real possibility that lower court seats will go unfilled, unless there is significant backroom horse-trading. In short, if power is split between the White House and the Senate, there could be unprecedented gridlock on judicial nominations that extends all the way up to the Supreme Court and down to the appellate and even district courts.
Read more here about the possible outcomes.
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