Trump win could extend U.S. conservatives’ control over Supreme Court

The potential for long-term conservative control of the Supreme Court under a second term for President Trump causes concern, asserts a top Republican of the Senate Judiciary Committee

A win for former President Donald Trump in the coming U.S. presidential election could see the conservatives in the country’s Supreme Court retain control for the coming decades.

Conservatives already have a supermajority on the Supreme Court as a result of Mr. Trump’s first stint.

Justices Clarence Thomas, 76, and Samuel Alito, 74, are the two oldest members of the court. Either, or both, could consider stepping down knowing that Mr. Trump, a Republican, would nominate replacements who might be three decades younger.

“With President Trump and a Republican Senate, we could have a generation of conservative justices on the bench in the Supreme Court,” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, recently wrote on X.

That is exactly what worries Christina Harvey, executive director of the progressive group Stand Up America. “The real key here is Trump prevention. If Trump wins again, he could solidify right-wing control of the Supreme Court for decades,” Ms. Harvey said.

Lower profile

Yet the nation’s highest court has a lower profile than it did in the past two presidential campaigns.

That is despite an early summer ruling on presidential immunity that insured that Mr. Trump would not have to stand trial before the election on charges of interference in the 2020 election and other consequential decisions on abortion, guns, affirmative action, and the environment.

Published - October 24, 2024 09:45 am IST