THE COURT OF LAST RESORT What is next for the Supreme Court?
Written By Valerie Miller
T
he Supreme Court, long known as “the court of last resort,” is now catching heat from both sides of the political aisles for both its actions and inactions. Gone, possibly forever, are the days of strictly viewing the court in terms of conservatives and liberals. Supreme Court observers have been left to read the tea leaves to figure out how this version of the court will rule—or decline to rule -- on any given case. In a country that is more politically polarized than ever before, the Supreme Court has a seemingly impossible task of trying to appear fair. That’s no small feat considering the court is made up of, at least on paper, six conservative and three liberal justices. During the four years of the Trump Administration, President Donald J. Trump made an indelible mark on the court, appointing three Supreme Court justices. That’s a third of the entire nine-member body. Trump’s picks included Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and lastly, Amy Coney Barrett. In December, however, many conservatives and Trump supporters were bitterly disappointed in the three Trump appointees as they voted not to hear a case challenging the November 2020 election results in some key states. The case was brought by Texas, with many other states joining in support. Las Vegas-based Pro-Trump radio host and author Wayne Allyn Root called the trio of Trump appointees “cowards” who are “afraid of their own shadows.” Gorsuch and Barrett had been viewed as the most reliably
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conservative of Trump’s picks. Meanwhile Kavanaugh was more looked at as a “safe pick” conservative that most Republican senators could get behind at a time when they hardly had a vote to spare in getting a Trump pick confirmed. Of course, Kavanaugh didn’t have a smooth confirmation in 2018, as Democratic senators hit him with decades-old allegations of sexual misconduct from the judge’s high school and college days. Kavanaugh was narrowly confirmed by the Republican majority after a spectacle was made at his confirmation hearing. Kavanaugh vehemently denied the charges.
RBG’s Death Dramatically Changes the Court The high court was set again at nine members after Kavanaugh’s confirmation, and stayed that way until the death of the liberal Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September of last year, after a long battle with cancer. In reflecting now on the death of the liberal icon, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Boyd School of Law Professor Ann McGinley says Ginsburg’s legacy cannot be understated. “As to the loss of Justice Ginsburg, I think it is incalculable the amount of intelligence and love of humanity that she brought to her job. Her work, over a period of decades, likely saved many lives, and definitely created a fairer and more equal country for all types of people,” McGinley reflects.
