How the Supreme Court’s Empty Seat Intensifies this Year’s Presidential Election

Mary Claire McClellan

Rhetoric Around Supreme Court Appointees

Comm. 4320

10/6/2016

What you Need to Know

The Supreme Court is missing its ninth justice. Okay, but so what? It also happens to be an election year, so the stakes just got a heck of a lot higher in the fight for the White House.

Less is not More

With the death of Court Justice Antonin Scalia in February, the Supreme Court is down one player entering into a new term. This vacancy has the Court in deadlock, because there is not a ninth vote to break the 4-4 tie.

Upping the Ante

This empty seat on the Supreme Court ups the ante in the race to the White House, to say the least. Come November, our country will have a new Commander-in-Chief and subsequently, a court that leans in his or her favor.

Let’s break this down. Greg Stohr, of Bloomberg Politics, lays this out pretty clearly.

As Stohr so eloquently points out, if Hilary wins the race, the Democrats will have the majority BUT if Donald takes the cake, the Republicans will have the 5-4 majority.

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-09-28/supreme-court-on-verge-of-historic-shift-stuck-in-limbo-for-now

Have your Cake and Eat it too

So basically, it’s Donald vs. Hillary: for the Presidency AND for the majority in court.  With the court majority, it’s looking like whoever wins the election will have his or her cake and eat it too.

It’s easy to get caught up in the drama of the election- the email scandals, tax return madness, the pant suits and the social media fat shaming – but let’s not lose sight of how important this election is. Our country is about to undergo an extreme transformation and the power is ours to elect the agent of that change.