Supreme Court in the hands of the next US president

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A reminder of what is at stake.

With moral and cultural issues playing as large a role in influencing tomorrow's presidential election as security, money and war, the question over the future make-up of the US Supreme Court is the issue that neither candidate has wished to fully acknowledge.

Beyond the prospect that disputed results in many states could once again put the outcome of the election in the hands of nine aging justices, the next president is almost certain to have the power to affect the ideological balance of the court, which often divides five to four on controversial issues.

With America's moral and cultural armies squaring off over gay marriage, stem-cell research and abortion, the power to appoint one or more new justices to the ideologically divided court is perhaps more important in the long term than who sits in the White House.

Last week, the issue came into focus when it was announced that 80-year-old Chief Justice William Rehnquist was being treated for thyroid cancer. Rehnquist, an ideological conservative who has presided over the court for 17 years and who has seen the country move to the right since he was appointed by former president Nixon, is said to be ready for work next week in case there are election issues to resolve.

Taipei Times

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1. "Next US President in the hands of the Supreme Court"