MARC A. THIESSEN COLUMN
www.canoncitydailyrecord.com
excerpt:
In 2016, exit polls showed that Trump trounced Hillary Clinton by 15 points among voters for whom the Supreme Court was the most important issue, 56% to 41%. And it was the top issue for a lot of voters. Twenty-six percent of Trump voters – about 16.4 million people – reported that the court was the most important factor in their decision, compared with just 18% of Clinton voters. In an election that Trump won by about 78,000 votes in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, these voters arguably put him in the Oval Office.
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Trump’s success in transforming the judiciary — securing the Supreme Court’s conservative majority and confirming more than 200 lower-court judges — meant judicial appointments were shaping up to be a weaker argument in 2020. Not anymore. A bruising fight over replacing Ginsburg just weeks before Election Day could prove just as decisive in Trump’s quest for a second term.
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Biden can’t continue to dodge questions about court-packing. The fact is, many Democrats supported packing the court long before Ginsburg died. Even if she had survived into Biden’s potential first term, and Justice Stephen Breyer retired, confirming both of their successors would not have altered the ideological makeup of the court. Democrats likely would not be satisfied simply swapping out liberal justices. They would have used Merrick Garland’s “stolen” seat as a pretext to install a liberal majority. Now Ginsburg’s “stolen” seat will provide the excuse.
But they can’t do it without President Biden’s signature. He will have to take a position on whether he will pack the court. He is reluctant to do so because if he says no, then he will dispirit his base; and if he says yes, then he will drive reluctant Trump voters for whom the Supreme Court is a deciding issue into Trump’s arms once again.