CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Both major presidential candidates say that the future of the Supreme Court depends on this election \u2013 but how important is the Court to Catholics, and will the next president really shape it?<\/p>\n\u201cIt is certainly one of the most important things that a president does,\u201d said Professor Michael McConnell, a law professor at Stanford University and director of the school\u2019s Constitutional Law Center. \u201cAnd because the Supreme Court has been so closely divided with so many 5-4 decisions, even one justice can make a very big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in February, President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland, chief judge of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, to take his place. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to confirm the nominee, saying the Senate would wait until next year to consider confirming nominees.<\/p>\n
Thus, the Supreme Court \u2013 normally composed of nine justices \u2013 is operating with an empty seat, leading to outcomes like a 4-4 split in United States v. Texas, the case involving President Obama\u2019s executive action on immigration. The even split allowed the lower court\u2019s decision to stand.<\/p>\n
Advocates of both major presidential candidates say the next president\u2019s nomination of a justice will be one of the most important reasons to vote in the coming presidential election. And, given the age of some of the justices on the bench, several more could retire in the next few years, giving the next president the opportunity to nominate several of their hand-picked justices to the Court.<\/p>\n
Has a president been able to shape the Court in the past? Yes, McConnell said, there are historical examples of this.<\/p>\n
Franklin Delano Roosevelt at first saw his \u201cNew Deal\u201d policies declared unconstitutional by an unfriendly Court; however, \u201cby the end [of his presidency] he had named all nine\u201d justices and \u201cthe Court was completely in congenial hands,\u201d McConnell told CNA.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Nixon had the opportunity to name four justices, which marked the end of the liberal activist Warren court and ushered in an entirely new jurisprudence,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The next justice could very well determine future jurisprudence on the constitutionality of state abortion bans, abortion regulations, and religious freedom cases where, for example, businesses are sued for conscientiously declining to serve a same-sex wedding or conscientiously declining to have birth control covered in employee health plans.<\/p>\n
Pro-life and pro-choice advocates have both touted the importance of the Court in this election.<\/p>\n
For instance, after the Supreme Court struck down Texas\u2019 regulations of abortions clinics in a 5-3 decision in Whole Woman\u2019s Health v. Hellerstedt, the president of the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List Marjorie Dannenfelser said \u201cthe stakes for the 2016 election could not be higher.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next president will be tasked with selecting Justice Antonin Scalia\u2019s replacement and up to three others,\u201d Dannenfelser said. \u201cWe must elect a pro-life president and safeguard today\u2019s pro-life majorities in the House and Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the political arm of Planned Parenthood praised the Court\u2019s decision. \u201cOur next president \u2013 and the new Supreme Court justices they\u2019ll appoint \u2013 will determine whether women continue to have a constitutional right to safe and legal abortion,\u201d Planned Parenthood Action stated.<\/p>\n
At the final presidential debate, when asked what kind of Supreme Court justices they would appoint, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump gave different answers.<\/p>\n
Clinton insisted that \u201cwe need a Supreme Court that will stand up on behalf of women\u2019s rights, on behalf of the rights of the LGBT community,\u201d adding that \u201cit is important that we not reverse marriage equality, that we not reverse Roe v. Wade.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump, meanwhile answered that \u201cI am pro-life and I will be appointing pro-life justices,\u201d along with justices that \u201cwill be protecting the Second Amendment.\u201d He stopped short of saying that he wanted Roe v. Wade overturned.<\/p>\n
With the Court closely divided on important cases, the impact of even one Supreme Court justice cannot be overlooked, McConnell emphasized.<\/p>\n
For instance, in a 2014 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the craft chain Hobby Lobby and other \u201cclosely-held for-profit\u201d businesses were protected from the federal government\u2019s birth control mandate by a religious freedom law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.<\/p>\n
That was a 5-4 decision with Justice Scalia in the majority, which meant that if just one justice in his place ruled differently, the Green family who owns Hobby Lobby \u2013 and other business owners claiming to run their business based on their religious beliefs \u2013 would have lost a key religious freedom case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Court is very divided on questions of vital importance to believing and practicing Catholics,\u201d said Professor David Upham, attorney-at-law and professor of politics at the University of Dallas. \u00a0<\/p>\n
On one side, four justices have been appointed by Democratic presidents and have ruled consistently together. \u201cThey vote in virtual lockstep over 90 percent of the time\u201d and \u201cvery rarely file separate opinions,\u201d McConnell noted.<\/p>\n
They have voted to uphold legal abortion and same-sex marriage and have opposed the religious freedom of Catholics who don\u2019t want to cooperate with \u201cthe evils of the sexual revolution\u201d like \u201ccontraception, abortifacients, and the public celebration of homosexuality,\u201d Upham told CNA.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, three justices have voted the opposite way on these issues.<\/p>\n
They \u201chave repeatedly voted to affirm, and not invalidate state and federal laws designed to secure the right of the child to his life and his parents,\u201d Upham said, and \u201cthey have voted consistently to affirm and preserve the immunity of Catholics and others against compulsory participation in the practices and celebrations of the sexual revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the remaining justice \u2013 Justice Anthony Kennedy \u2013 \u201chas been less than consistent on these questions,\u201d Upham added.<\/p>\n
And how closely do the justices on the bench resemble the politics of the president who nominated them to the Court?<\/p>\n
Historically, the justices are pretty consistent with the party politics of the president who appointed them, McConnell said. \u201cPresidents don\u2019t make mistakes all that often.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s certainly true that justices sometimes vote contrary to what you might think are the political leanings of the party who appointed him or her, and that\u2019s a good thing,\u201d he explained, but added that \u201cit doesn\u2019t happen very often.\u201d<\/p>\n
One example he gave of a justice defying the trend was Justice David Souter \u2013 nominated by Republican President George H. W. Bush \u2013 who \u201cturned out to be a fairly reliable member of the liberal wing of the court. It\u2019s unlikely that that\u2019s what President Bush was looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Justices are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Upham agreed that justices nominated and confirmed by a president and senators all of the same party are more consistent with a President\u2019s views.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past 30 years, every justice nominated by a Democratic President and confirmed primarily by Democratic Senators has been hostile to the rights of life, marriage, and religious freedom affirmed by the Church,\u201d Upham said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn that same time, every justice nominated by a Republican President and confirmed primarily by Republican Senators has been friendly \u2013 or at least not hostile \u2013 to those same principles,\u201d he added. \u201cThe only exceptions \u2013 Justices Souter and Kennedy \u2013 were appointed by a Republican President but confirmed primarily by Democratic Senators.\u201d
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
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