Two significant, but less considered, impacts of the Barrett confirmation [View all]

[FBaggins]

I - Conservative lower courts gain more power

It takes four justices to decide to hear an appeal at all. Controversial conservative lower court rulings can now stand without the national scrutiny that a SCOTUS hearing creates. If the 8th circuit (10-1 red IIRC) makes some whacky ruling... the liberals on the court can't even bring it to public attention by granting an appeal.

. I a The obvious corollary is that liberal lower court rulings are more likely to be taken on appeal and then overturned. Placing constraints on the types of rulings that even a left-leaning circuit will be willing to make.


II - The rulings themselves become more conservative

Most people don't realize it... but the actual ruling on a given case is often less important than the rationale behind that ruling. If, for instance, the court overturns some state gun restriction... they can do so for narrow technical reasons that wouldn't impact regulations in other states. Or they can do so with fundamental precedent-setting reasons. With Ginsburg on the court, they might get a 5th vote (likely Roberts) by ruling narrowly... but now the author of a ruling can set a more substantial precedent with five votes and one merely concurring in the decision, but not the rationale.

Note - I realize that this oversimplifies the balance of the court into "conservative"/"liberal" justices when the mix is far more complex depending on the issue.