Constitutional Law,
Law Practice,
U.S. Supreme Court
Nov. 15, 2016
The court that could have been
Since 1960, 78 years old is the average age at which a Supreme Court justice has left the bench. Three of the current justices -- Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer -- are 78 or older.
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law
UC Berkeley School of Law
Erwin's most recent book is "Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism." He is also the author of "Closing the Courthouse," (Yale University Press 2017).
My guess is that relatively few voters in the Nov. 8 presidential election paid much attention to its impact on the Supreme Court, but that may well be its longest lasting effect. This is the election that likely will determine the ideological composition of the Supreme Court for decades to come.
Major ideological shifts on the Supreme Court are rare. The court became very conservative by the 1880s and remained that way until 1936, striking down over 200 progressive laws, such as tho...
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