George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said that the Supreme Court would likely remain conservative, albeit much younger, following a second Trump administration.
Trump secured the 270 electoral votes necessary to win the presidency early Wednesday morning, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris. Turley said that Democrats’ efforts to “pack” the Supreme Court would be on hold, while landmark rulings celebrated by conservatives would be cemented for at least a decade, with Republican control of the Senate and Harris’ defeat making it difficult for Democrats to stop the confirmation of new justices appointed by Trump.
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“The Supreme Court dodged a bullet in that you had Democratic senators saying they wanted to pack the court,” Turley said. “One of them said that Kamala Harris was in support of that plan. That would have really been devastating to the court. But now, you also have a little more breathing room. For justices like Clarence Thomas, who is getting older, and maybe Samuel Alito, they have a safe harbor period in which they can get a replacement who will be in their jurisprudential views.”
“My guess is one or both of them could very well use that. This is a margin that would guarantee that type of transition,” Turley continued. “The other big change, of course, is that many of the things they have done over the last few years are now going to be cemented. The issue of abortion will remain with the states. Gun rights will remain robustly defended. So will religious freedom cases. So you’re not going to have a change for at least a decade or so, very likely, in the makeup of the court as being more conservative.”
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Liberals and some Democratic lawmakers called for the expansion of the Supreme Court in the wake of a series of rulings in 2022, a move supported by a majority of Democrats, according to a poll released at the time. The rulings included upholding a Mississippi law restricting abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy, striking down New York’s restrictive “good cause” requirement for concealed carry permits and limiting the steps the Environmental Protection Agency could take with regards to regulating so-called “greenhouse gasses.”
“One of the things I say to members of Congress who want to pack the court, is that your institution is about as popular as Ebola, and so saying that, ‘my gosh, the court has lost some of that support,’ the court is still ranked up there with one of the more popular institutions, and so I think these justices want to return to normalcy,” Turley said. “They really did not want to get involved in this election. You could see that in the decisions they were making. They wanted that cup to pass from their lips. I think they will be very happy with this.”
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“The terrible thing is that a stable democracy broke out last night, so legal analysts were barely seen, and that’s a very sad thing,” Turley continued. “But the good thing is we didn’t have legal problems. If you see me, it is like seeing your cardiologist.”
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.