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Court watchers consider future of U.S. Supreme Court

VIDEO CNN's Greta Van Susteren reports on citizens' knowledge of the U.S. Supreme Court (November 7) Read the story

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(CNN) -- The makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court has become an issue in this year's presidential campaign, with Vice President Al Gore telling voters that the next president could appoint as many as four new members to the court.

Both Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush have said that they will not use any litmus tests to select nominees.

In the first presidential debate, Bush said he would appoint "people who will strictly interpret the Constitution and will not use the bench to write social policy." He said his nominees would be similar to Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Gore said that was "code" for saying Bush would appoint people who would overturn the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. Gore said his appointees would "very likely" uphold it.

Abortion is not the only issue the next president's judicial appointments could impact. There were 20 cases in the 1999-2000 that were decided by 5-4 votes. Some involved controversial issues including affirmative action, discrimination, and federalism --Congress's authority to impose laws on the state.

Bush and Gore have different opinions on many of these issues and are likely to appoint justices who share their respective views.

Court watchers say it will be difficult to predict what effect the next president will have on the court, no matter who is elected.

• Charles Bierbauer: Voting for the U.S. Supreme Court is not that simple
Liberals and conservatives alike say the U.S. Supreme Court is at stake in this year's presidential election. They may be right. But it's not as simple as that.
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• Attorney Edward Lazarus on the future of the Supreme Court
The oldest justice is John Paul Stevens, who is 80. Chief Justice Rehnquist is the next oldest and it has been rumored that he is looking to retire if a Republican is elected.
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• CNN's Roger Cossack on the presidential election and the Supreme Court
A conservative senator may want to keep a pro-choice nominee from the Supreme Court whereas someone like Vice President Gore would want a pro-choice nominee. So the tension exists, but our Constitution gives us a way to at least put members on the Supreme Court.
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• Kenneth Starr on George W. Bush, Supreme Court, and the independent counsel
I think (Bush) will be looking, as he has said, for an overall philosophy of judicial restraint, that is, judges who are respectful of the process of representative democracy and who allow important social policies to be determined democratically, rather than by judges.
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• Law professor Michael Dorf on Supreme Court appointments and the next president
The court is divided into roughly three camps. There are three solid conservatives: Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas. There are four moderate-to-liberals: Associate Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer. And then there are the swing votes: Associate Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy.
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• How Supreme Court nominees will vote is no mystery
I may have been the only one cheering. I know my favorite moment in the October 3 presidential debate was unusual -- but as a lawyer, I was moved by this moment. It meant a lot to me. It was the moment when Vice President Gore admitted that it is possible to predict how nominee justices will decide constitutional issues prior to the time they are appointed to the Supreme Court.
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• Analysis: How Bush Supreme Court nominees could undermine his own education policy
As Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore vie for the political center, education has emerged as one of the issues on which the candidates display seemingly sharp differences. Bush would spend federal funds to provide tuition vouchers for use at private schools, while Gore would focus his efforts on improving failing public schools.
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• Why the Supreme Court may not change after the election
Inside the court, the liberals fret. Justice David Souter, who is waging a self-described "epic struggle" against the court's anti-choice, pro-prayer, state's-rights-touting conservatives, recently warned a group of college students that November's election would determine the future of the court.
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