The 2016 election is not about the presidency. It is about the Supreme Court

Mark E Andersen for Daily Kos

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Sunday April 19, 2015 · 3:00 PM PDT

2015/04/19 · 15:00

no image description available — This is what is at stake in the 2016 election

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices (L-R) Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonya Sotomayor listen to U.S. President Barack Obama as he delivers his State of the Union address to a joint

This is what is at stake in the 2016 election

The 2016 election is kicking off in fine fashion. The Republicans are trotting out crazy, crazier, and craziest, and I'll let you figure out who is who there. The Democrats have Hillary Clinton, and while there surely will be a couple of others in the Democratic primaries, the nomination will likely go to the former secretary of state.

Some on the left are already crying foul about Clinton being anointed by the Democratic Party, that she is the establishment candidate, that she is the corporate candidate, that she has too much baggage, or that we don't want a Clinton dynasty any more than we want a Bush dynasty.

None of that matters. If she is the nominee, we must support her whether or not we think she is the establishment candidate or the corporate candidate. Why? The U.S. Supreme Court. The next president will likely nominate several Supreme Court justices. Consider the ages of the current justices:

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 82
Antonin Scalia, 79
Anthony Kennedy, 78
Stephen Breyer, 76
Clarence Thomas, 66
Samuel Alito, 65
John Roberts, 60
Sonia Sotomayor, 60
Elena Kagan, 54

Jump below the fold for more.

If we fail to turn out on Election Day some 19 months from now and the Democratic nominee loses, the Supreme Court will tilt right for the foreseeable future. If we do turn out, and the Democratic nominee wins, we can change the current makeup of the court and it will lean to the left. We already know what damage a right-leaning court can do—just think about Citizens United and Bush v. Gore, and then imagine if America gets one more conservative justice.

Now envision Scott Walker as the Republican nominee who defeats Clinton, and Ruth Bader Ginsberg steps down. Do you think he will nominate a left-leaning justice? Imagine Scalia stepping down, and imagine who our potential GOP candidate would nominate to take his place—it could be someone further to the right than Scalia.

We can talk all we want to about this election being for a populist candidate—would love to see Elizabeth Warren or Barney Frank run and win—however, I know that no matter who the nominee is, we must support her or him. We must turn out in order to ensure Democratic victory.

The stakes in this coming election are far too high, and those stakes are nothing less than the Supreme Court.

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The 2016 election is not about the presidency. It is about the Supreme Court

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