Choose Wisely

Something that many Americans do not consider when voting is the President's power to appoint Supreme Court Justices. This is of the utmost importance in our nation. Currently, our Supreme Court largely consists of Republicans who would likely overrule Roe v. Wade if the right case were to come along.

This would mean that women would no longer have a Constitutionally protected right to choose whether or not to terminate a pregnancy before the point of viability. It would, however, leave the issue to states and allow them to decide whether abortion should be legal or not. Because this procedure is expensive and traveling great distances to obtain an abortion is not feasible for everyone, overturning Roe v. Wade would have dramatic affects on millions of young women in America. Of course, this issue affects all of us as it has implications on welfare, teen pregnancy, child abuse rates, child neglect, nutrition, crime, and so much more.

A Supreme Court that is too politically skewed is dangerous with respect to any issue. Certainly, the Framers envisioned balance on the political spectrum when they established the 9 Justice panel. In the modern era we should anticipate an even broader balance; one encompassing race, class, politics, gender, sexual orientation, geographic origin, etc. In the next Presidential term, it is likely that at least two of the Justices will be replaced for one reason or another. However, the two oldest, and most likely to retire, are on the liberal side of the political spectrum and hold that vote in the Court. Failing to replace their votes with other like votes will throw off the political balance in the Supreme Court that is so crucial to fair and equal justice in this Nation.

Most importantly, should McCain be elected and should any Justice choose to retire or leave their position for any other reason (i.e. death), replacing a liberal vote with a conservative vote could be detrimental to the woman's right to have an abortion. Because McCain has been criticize for his views on abortion, his party is likely to be more critical of any Supreme Court nominee on this particular issue. For this reason, McCain is more likely to nominate a judge or attorney that is known to be pro-life and will support the conservative vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Certainly, we can speculate all we want about the possibilities of these occurrences. But, if the lessons that Sandra Day O'Connor taught us about unpredictability on the Supreme Court mean anything, I think it worth while to consider all possibilities when voting in November and hedge our bets with the safest vote.