Election Looms as Supreme Court Starts Term

Oct. 6, 2008 — -- The Supreme Court begins its new term Monday with important cases in business, environmental and First Amendment law -- but those issues might be overshadowed by a presidential election that could shift the ideological balance of the court.

Both candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama, have signaled that because of the advanced age of a majority of the justices, the next president could be faced with one or more retirements.

On the campaign trail, McCain and Obama have commented on controversial decisions and their outlook for the future of the court.

"I want my judges to understand that part of the role of the court is to look out for the people who don't have political power, the people who are on the outside, the people who aren't represented, the people who don't have a lot of money," Obama said in March. "And yes, I want a woman on the court absolutely."

McCain has said, "I have my own standards of judicial ability, experience, philosophy and temperament. And Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito meet those standards in every respect. They would serve as the model for my own nominees if that responsibility falls to me."

With Associate Justices John Paul Stevens celebrating his 88th year and Ruth Bader Ginsburg her 75th, conservative grass-roots activists have begun a campaign to remind voters that if McCain won, he could replace a liberal justice with a conservative.

"Americans do not get to choose Supreme Court justices. In their wisdom, the framers of the Constitution provided that the president chooses them for all of us," said Wendy Long of the Judicial Confirmation Network. "The next president will exercise that most important judgment, probably at least several times."

Long's group has launched a nationwide grass-roots campaign to raise awareness and recruit activists on the issue of the Supreme Court.

That there have been no signs that any justice is slowing down or contemplating retirement has not stopped speculation that a retirement could come this term.

If Obama were to win the presidency, he could name a much younger justice who might not, at least initially, change the outcome of some of the more closely divided cases on controversial social issues, but would theoretically serve for many years to come.