A very consequential US presidential election

As the US presidential election is now entering its final few weeks, one very significant event took place just a couple of days ago. On Friday, September 18, 2020, US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Baden Ginsburg passed away due to complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer. She was a pioneer legal luminary in modern American history being a foremost champion of women’s rights and equality. The statement from Chief Justice John Roberts aptly said, “Our nation has lost a justice of historic stature. We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her, a tireless and resolute champion of justice."

Being one of the four Democratic appointed justices in the Supreme Court, she was the most reliable vote in causes advanced by the progressive movement ranging from abortion rights, same-sex marriage, healthcare, immigration, and other liberal issues. Her absence in the Court expands the conservative leaning justices to five with justices Thomas, Kavanaugh, Alito, Gorsuch, and Chief Justice Roberts. The remaining three liberal leaning justices --Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayor would hope to have at least one of the five Republican appointed justices to side with them in order to split the court. In recent decisions, the chief justice sided with the liberal justices, but even then his so-called defections could not be a true measure of his future votes in upcoming major cases.

Which leads us to my premise. With an already 5-3 court, President Donald Trump has the opportunity to steer the court to be more receptive to conservative agenda. If he makes the nomination of another predictably conservative Justice, the US Supreme Court can potentially transform this nation with its decisions that will affect generations to come. In the days to come, it will be interesting to see the political maneuverings as this vacancy occurs in a presidential election. It can be recalled that in 2016, the Republican Senate did not convene, not even in the Justice Committee hearing, to confirm President Obama’s nomination of Mr. Garland, justifying that in an election year the Senate should wait until the people has elected a new president. With the tables being turned, the big question is, will they hold the same reasoning they did before? I never doubt that with this once-in-a-generation golden opportunity at their doorstep the Republicans would simply pass this up.

If at all the Republicans would apply their standard like they did during the time of Obama, this makes the November presidential election one of the most consequential and significant nation-changing elections of all time. The importance of having the next president fill in this vacancy is enough reason for voters from both parties to be energized in showing up at the polls.