Jeffrey Rosen TNR: McJustice

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=87ca9449-7b32-48fa-bccb-7615457812be

<<This year, for the first time since the New Deal era, a single election really does have the power to transform the Court--at the very moment that voters, rightly concerned about the tanking economy and the war in Iraq, are looking the other way. Given the fact that the older justices are liberal rather than conservative--and that the oldest, John Paul Stevens, is 88--it's hard to deny that nominations by John McCain would change the Court far more dramatically than those by Barack Obama. An Obama victory would maintain the current balance of the Court, while a McCain Court could create a solid conservative majority.

What's at stake is not only Roe v. Wade, but issues directly tied to the current concerns of the public: among them, Congress's power to regulate the economy as well as limits on the president's power to act unilaterally in the war on terrorism. Although McCain claims to favor justices who will defer to the political branches, the most likely Republican nominees are hardly consistent advocates of judicial deference. Voters who are hoping McCain will nominate relatively moderate judicial mavericks should think again.>>

Whatever undecideds may think about the differences in policy between the two candidates, whoever is elected will assuredly shape the court for a generation. I'm not sure how many realize this.

It's not just Roe. If McSame were to somehow win, he will almost certainly replace Bader-Ginsburg and Stevens with judges whose mission in life will be to undo the Warren Court rulings. People take for granted the right to an attorney, or to be informed of your rights upon arrest; all of that, and much more, could be gone.