Posted on 04/29/2012 6:40:28 AM PDT by Clintonfatigued
The stakes in this year's election are higher than normal because the next president may have the unusual opportunity to impact the ideological direction of the Supreme Court, untypical of any one presidential term.
During the next presidential term, starting in January 2013, of the nine Supreme Court justices, "three of the justices will be in their 80s," notes Clint Bolick, author of the new book, "Two-Fer: Electing a President and a Supreme Court."
"[W]hoever is elected in November may have the rare chance to reinforce or alter the courts balance," he said.
And with Supreme Court rulings like Citizens United in 2010 – and perhaps the upcoming decisions on Obamacare and the federal government's lawsuit against Arizona's illegal-immigration law – hinging on the opinion of a single justice and setting longstanding precedents, the court's balance ought to be top of mind for voters this year.
There is no guarantee when a justice will retire nor can they be forced to do so. Supreme Court justices are constitutionally guaranteed a life term and can serve for as long as they wish to.
Of those justices reaching their eighties in the next presidential term, two of the three are regarded as being on the conservative side of the court. Among the liberals, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg turns 80 in 2013. Conservative Antonin Scalia, 76, turns 80 in 2016. Anthony Kennedy, often portrayed as the swing vote on the typically divided court, turns 77 this summer and 80 in 2015.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
Well, I guess one can always hope that they vetted them a little better this time.
See we do agree.
Best if Obama is reelected.
Obama thanks you for your support.
You shouldn't lie so obviously. It just makes you look bad.
No, we've only lost you.
if Romney is the nominee, we will have a choice. We can either elect an ambitous political weathervane who essentiall governs by opinion poll, or we can reelect a President who is a willing tool of people who want to destroy the United States and its people. I know it’s a bad choice. But we can survive a President Romney. A second Obama term will cause irreversable damage.
Being in California gives me the "luxury" of not really having to care about who I would vote for in our primary, as it will be pretty much done by then. But we MUST vote for the Republican nominee in the general election.
Supreme Court appointments were the only reason I voted for Bush. As bad as Bush was he was better than Gore or Kerry. It would be a disaster to let Obama make any more appointments. Romney might nominate a conservative leaning judge Obama never will. I will take “might” over “never” any day.
Creating false dilemmas and trying to foist them off on thinking conservatives, in support of the most liberal governor in the history of the republic, is so silly.
We have a week to go before our primary here in NC. Early voting is open.
I will be casting my anti-Mitt vote on primary day. I was going to vote for any of the Conservatives but since they’ve all dropped out I’ll hold my nose and vote for Ron Paul.
I’ll hold my nose again on election day and vote for the Republican nominee - whoever he is.
In the general elections I vote to win - not feel good.
If Obama gets a second term I don’t want to have helped him by voting third party, write in or staying home.
It’s a free country. If you’re willing to leave your supposed principles at the door and support a pro-choice democrat there’s nothing I can do about it.
Obama thanks you for the support.
Romney Republicans have already ceded the election to Obama. You’re selling out all principle for absolutely nothing.
Hence the urgency of this discussion for Conservatives.
There’s no way any candidate can possibly win a contested election when the best thing his supporters have for their bumper stickers is “Yeah, I know he sucks, but...”
Obama thanks you for supporting his reelection campaign.
Any help you can provide by voting third party, writing in Micky Mouse or staying home is greatly appreciated.
We can have almost no effect on any of that. How exactly can we control who goes in Romney's cabinet? Those aren't up for a vote. As far as Congress, enough Republicans will simply go along with anything he does because of the "R" after his name. Bush Sr. got taxes raised by getting moderate Republicans and Democrats to agree on a plan when conservatives balked on a plan that would not have raised taxes as high as he did. We just saw the same thing take place on the student loan issue, as the WSJ explained it. The subsidized interest rate will add $6 billion to the deficit next year and risks becoming a permanent, untouchable entitlement. Romney agreed with Obama on it, and the House GOP went along with it because they didn't want to "embarrass" their nominee. This is how RINO presidents work, and why they don't win reelection. They totally disenchant the base and their liberal policy has the same bad effects it would under a Democrat. A Romney win paves the way for a Democrat takeover in 2014 and 2016 and the worst liberal policy you can imagine.
The crying, whining, screaming and kicking that because my guy didn't win I'm taking my toys and running home. Grow up people.
Has absolutely nothing to do with "my guy" logic. Plenty of us would have been fine with any mostly CONSERVATIVE nominee, be it Cain, Bachmann, Gingrich, Perry, Santorum, we'd probably even give Paul a shot. But Romney isn't even an option. It's like asking us to coalesce around Hillary Clinton. Neither are conservatives in any way, shape or form. More conservative than Obama, by a hair, maybe. But that's nothing a real conservative can settle for or rally behind. And if you want to argue strategy, gridlocking Obama with a Republican Congress for 4 years and then getting a conservative in there would probably be better than electing Romney.
Pure nonsense.
As scary as a second Obama term might be, there is something infinitely scarier: American “conservatism” with no principles left.
There is no possible path back for this country without a return to this free republic’s moral principles, sir.
And when the only part of the electorate that could possibly lead such a return has abandoned any sense of right and wrong, purely out of fear or perceived political expedience, you’re creating the exact sort of political environment that led to Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany.
Obama thanks you for your support.
Be assured that as a conservative who helped tube Mitt you will be afforded the best seats available on the train to the reeducation camps.
Meh.
Typical Romney Republican nonsense.
You’re going to fit in just fine.
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