One of the most impactful legacies that the Trump administration left behind was the packing of the Supreme Court with three highly conservative justices appointed by the former president and his fellow republicans. Now, after almost four years of the Biden-Harris administration, the GOP has again the ambition to confirm and appoint more conservative justices to the SCOTUS, as well as lower-court judges, if they were to win the upcoming elections.
In fact, GOP senators do expect there will be surely at least one Supreme Court vacancy during a second Trump term in the White House, and also, if Trump is elected the Republicans would be likely to assume the entire control of the Senate, which oversees the confirmation process of the justices. As of right now, there are two long-serving conservative justices who are expected to retire in the coming years: Clarence Thomas, 76, and Samuel Alito, 74.
Sen. Josh Hawley, a member of the Judiciary Committee claimed that: “The odds are high, extremely high to certain”, when asked about the concrete possibilities of Trump appointing more Supreme Court justices if he wins the elections.
He then added: “I think you’ll see, on the conservative side, at least one retirement. I’m speculating, but I’m fairly confident of that”.
Despite this possibility, it’s also important to underline the fact that if Trump were to make two more Supreme Court appointments, he would have selected more than half of the justices, which is something no other President has accomplished since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is running to become the next GOP leader in the Senate, expressed perplexities about possible future judicial appointments to the Supreme Court, stating: “The three we’ve confirmed has been a legacy, one of the best things the administration and President Trump did with a Republican majority. Five almost seems too much to hope for”.
On the Democratic Party front, however, Kamala Harris has barely addressed the prospects of Supreme Court vacancies under the next president. But she has repeatedly criticized Trump for picking the three justices who were crucial to the five-member majority that overturned Roe v. Wade and ruled in a case involving Trump as well that presidents have complete immunity for certain official actions.
Meanwhile, Trump remained more cautious on the issue of Supreme Court appointments as he still finds himself defending his actions that resulted in the overturning of the Roe v. Wade ruling that guaranteed abortion rights at the federal level. At the same time, his campaign has declined to clarify if or when, a list of potential justices for appointment will be released, leaving uncertainty surrounding this critical policy issue.
