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reThe death of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg 46 days before the presidential election is the biggest disgrace for Democrats. The consequences for the political orientation of the country and for the outcome of the presidential elections could be serious. They are currently difficult to calculate in detail. But no matter which scenario becomes reality: Donald Trump has the trump card.
Andreas Ross
Editor in charge of Online Policy and Deputy Editor in charge of News.
Many left-wing liberal Americans are desperate for Republicans to have the long-awaited opportunity in the closing meters of their first term to shift the weight of the Supreme Court in favor of long-term conservative values.
Confirming a successor to Ginsburg in a few weeks, amid the election campaign and the crown pandemic, would be an act of force with the legislative lever. In addition, Republicans would have to forget all the arguments with which they denied the confirmation of a new judge “shortly before the elections” to Democratic President Barack Obama in 2016, despite the fact that a full eight months had elapsed between the death of the conservative judge. Antonin Scalia and Election Day.
But the temptation is enormous to replace, for the first time, not just a like-minded conservative judge, but an icon of left-liberal feminism with an outspoken opponent of abortion, gay marriage and public health care. Because Republicans can’t count on them still having a majority in the President and Senate in 2021.
Energy boost for Trump voters
On the other hand, both Trump and the Republican Party senators fighting for his re-election should see a tactical advantage in not resolving the Ginsburg succession before November 3. Because then the presidential and parliamentary elections would no longer be so much a referendum on the administration and character of Donald Trump, but a vote on the Supreme Court and social policy, that is, on the long-term orientation, yes, the self-image of the country.
Most Americans understand the importance of the Supreme Court. Their relative influence has grown as Congress has been blocked: decisive decisions about health care, about the limits of freedom of religion and freedom of expression, about immigration policy, or about same-sex couples. They have almost never been taken by directly elected representatives in the last decade, but by those of various presidents for life appointed justices to the Supreme Court.
The reckoning of many politically conservative but disgruntled Trump voters could change if Republicans now put this issue at the center. Trump has long tried to cash in on Ginsburg disease anyway. He knew nothing of his death when he envisioned his supporters once again at a rally on Friday night that the next president would have to appoint “between one and four” chief justices.