Happy Birthday to an Aging Supreme Court…

Happy Birthday to an Aging Supreme Court…
While Kerry did an awesome job last night gaining ground against a rather flustered and inarticulate President Bush, I have to say that I’m still a bit concerned about the election…not to mention the Supreme Court.
Turns out that today is Chief Justice Rehnquist’s 80th birthday. While Rehnquist has been no friend to women’s rights, and I would be none-too-sad to see him retire, I was shocked to learn that reproductive rights supporters Justice Stevens and Justice O’Connor, are 84 and 74 respectively. In fact, Clarence Thomas is the *only* Supreme Court Justice under age 65. Scary, huh?
As Nan Aron of the Alliance for Justice explains that, “The next president will set the direction of the Supreme Court not for just four years, but for four decades.”
So what does this mean exactly? Well, a great article in USA Today notes that, “If re-elected, Bush would seek a conservative high court nominee similar to Justice Antonin Scalia, an outspoken voice of the right on the current court.” Now that is a *scary* thought.
While Scalia said earlier this week that he believes “abstract moralizing has led the American judicial system into a quagmire”, and that “matters such as abortion are too fundamental to be resolved by judges”, he clearly has no problem limiting reproductive rights when the issue makes it before the Court. Though he might be happier seeing women lose their right to choose via a Constitutional Amendment, he would no doubt love to join future Bush anti-choice appointees in overturning Roe v. Wade.
And what about Kerry? He has pledged that any of his Supreme Court nominees would have to support Roe v. Wade. Nice. In fact, Choose or Lose nicely sums up his platform nicely: “Kerry’s judicial nominees are likely to support abortion rights, extended civil-rights protections, affirmative action and environmental regulation; they’re also likely to safeguard rights for workers, the poor and criminal defendants.”
I remember the 2000 elections and the incessant discussion of how the President would seat a new Court. Well, thank God, all the Justices held on for the last four years. But given the age of the bench I don’t think we have four more years. So if we want to maintain our right to choose, we can’t let Bush do the appointing. Do your part: thirty-two states have voter registration deadlines next week, so click here to register to vote NOW.
–By Lauryn