Sunday, September 5th, 2021
Abortion law not stopped
Pressure on Supreme Court judges is growing
The fact that the US Supreme Court does not take action against the Texas abortion law is fueling the debate over the occupation of the Supreme Court. The Conservatives have the majority of the seats. In order not to lose another to her, Democrat Klobuchar calls on the oldest judge to act.
The Supreme Court’s recent decision on abortion fuels debate over the composition of the US Supreme Court – and the future of the senior judge, Stephen Breyer. Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar told CNN that if Breyer is seriously considering retiring early, he’d better do it soon. Referring to the recent Supreme Court decision not to stop an extremely strict and highly controversial abortion law in the state of Texas, she said, “If this decision doesn’t cry out, I don’t know what that is doing.”
Supreme Court judges are appointed for life. At 83 years old, Breyer is the oldest of the nine judges. He is part of the liberal camp and was once nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton. Breyer has long been urged to step down from the liberal camp to ensure that his replacement falls within the term of office of Democratic President Joe Biden – before the Democrats could lose their Senate majority in the 2022 mid-term elections.
Supreme court judges are nominated by the President but appointed by the Senate. The Democrats there currently only have a wafer-thin majority, which they could lose in next year’s congressional elections.
In September 2020, Supreme Court judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg died at the age of 87 from complications from cancer. The liberal justice icon died in the final months of the then Republican President Donald Trump’s tenure. He and his party pushed ahead with their replacement at a rapid pace. Since then, the Conservatives have had a dominant majority of six of the nine seats in the court.
A potential replacement of Breyer’s seat under Biden would not change the balance of power between conservatives and liberals at the court for the time being. Klobuchar emphasized, however, that this would prevent that otherwise in the future there might be seven conservative judges facing two liberal judges. With its decisions on particularly controversial issues such as abortion, immigration or same-sex marriages, the Supreme Court repeatedly sets the course for US society.
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