Bitter fight over Kavanaugh shadows a conservative court
With Kavanaugh taking the place of the more moderate
The newly constituted court also might broaden gun rights, further relax campaign finance laws and halt the expansion of the rights of LGBT people, who three years ago won the right to marry nationwide with Kennedy in the majority.
Yet Kavanaugh may have a hard time putting behind him the tumultuous confirmation process, which ended with the
"In the public mind, there will always be this dark cloud hanging over the court, even if Kavanaugh is eventually embraced by all his colleagues on the court," said
That cloud stems from allegations of sexual assault and other inappropriate behavior by Kavanaugh while he was in high school and college, along with his politically charged testimony that labeled the look into his past a political hit job by
Kavanaugh has forcefully denied any inappropriate behavior with women. He also acknowledged in a
The bitter partisan fight over the confirmation could continue in another form if
In the meantime, the focus will be on the court's new majority's willingness to take on controversial issues.
A potential early test is two cases involving state efforts to strip public money from
It is far from certain that the court will move precipitously on this or any high-profile issue. "It's not going to be lost on anyone on the court that everybody is going to be watching the new court to see which issues they engage in," said
The justices could look for cases that are more likely to produce consensus, including those about privacy protections in the digital age, Clement said.
Some contentious issues, though, will be harder to avoid because federal law compels the court's involvement. In coming months, the issue of drawing political districts for partisan advantage will return to the court in a case from
New state restrictions on abortion could make their way to the
The leader of an anti-abortion group that supported Kavanaugh foreshadowed the fight to come in a statement issued just after the confirmation vote.
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Kavanaugh's arrival on the court after the most tumultuous confirmation battle since
Two of those liberal justices, speaking Friday at
"Every single one of us needs to realize how precious the court's legitimacy is. You know we don't have an army. We don't have any money. The only way we can get people to do what we think they should do is because people respect us," Justice
Justice
"We have to rise above partisanship in our personal relationships. We have to treat each with respect and dignity and a sense of amicability that the rest of the world doesn't always share," Sotomayor said.
On a practical level, the four liberal justices need a vote from the right side of the court in which they otherwise divide on the familiar ideological fault lines. Kennedy and
In stressing Kavanaugh's frequent agreement with Judge
"I saw him rule in favor of liberal parties. I saw him rule in favor of criminal defendants who were unsympathetic. For 12 years, I saw him rule where the law led and I expect him to do the same on the
But the more widely held expectation among court watchers is that Roberts, who joined with the liberal justices to uphold President
For Wydra, the new role for Roberts underscores the court's shift to the right. "I guess he is now the new center, which is rather frightening considering how conservative he is," she said.
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