Why the Court Will Lean Left Even Without a Scalia Replacement

[Bagsgroove]

1. Why this election matters

There's an significant final paragraph in that article --

"There’s an important caveat to all of this. The court will not have eight justices forever, and when Scalia’s successor takes the bench, the issues could be revisited. A 4-4 tie settles the particular case at bar, but it does not set binding precedent going forward. So even if Scalia’s passing virtually guarantees that, say, the contraceptive mandate will remain legally valid in 2016, it says nothing about whether a case brought in 2017 or 2020 might deal the death blow that was avoided previously. But what will actually happen in 2017 and 2020 may be substantially a function of who replaces Scalia. If it is someone to the sitting president’s liking, a series of fortuitous short-term wins could easily become much more permanent victories."

The possibility that the current Senate may succeed in blocking an Obama nominee until after the next president takes office makes it all the more important that the next president be a Democrat. All those Bernie fans who swear they won't vote for Hillary and Hillary fans who won't vote for Bernie, take note. You might just be letting President Cruz appoint the next Supreme Court Justice.