Editorial Examines How McCain, Obama Picks For Supreme Court Would Differ

Main Category: Medical Malpractice / Litigation
Also Included In: Public Health;  Abortion;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 23 Sep 2008 - 10:00 PDT

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The fact that the next president of the U.S. likely will appoint several Supreme Court justices means that those choices "will determine the future of the law, and of some of Americans' most cherished rights," according to a New York Times editorial.

The editorial says that Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) intends to pick moderate justices who "would probably not take the court back onto a distinctly liberal path, but also would be unlikely to create an unbreakable conservative bloc." Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who supports overturning Roe v. Wade, would be "likely to complete President Bush's campaign to make the court an aggressive right-wing force." According to the editorial, McCain "would appoint justices who could be expected to lead the charge to eliminate the right to abortion." On the other hand, Obama has said that he wants justices who have "the empathy to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom" and that he would make "preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as president."

The editorial says that if Obama is elected, "he might merely keep the court on its current moderately conservative course." Under McCain, however, if a "liberal justice or two or three steps down, we may see a very different America," the Times concludes (New York Times, 9/21).

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