Supreme Court nominations – Capturing majority in Senate … GOP priority?

Although gaining GOP seats in the United States House of Representatives would be great, conservatives may be more interested in gaining seats in the Senate at the next election cycle in 2010. It’s time to again start thinking what President Obama could do to the Supreme Court.

George Ball over at Investor’s Business Daily writes about what I’ve been thinking. What about the Supreme Court? Ball thinks the target should be a GOP takeover in the Senate, which at first glance certainly seems to be a huge long shot and at second glance, it’s even a more remote concept. The Senate set up is 60/40 in favor of the Democrats. I really don’t think an 11 seat swing is possible, but what do I know.

From Ball…

If the Supreme Court is called upon to constitutionally review the Obama administration’s big-government legislative initiatives before the end of Obama’s first term in 2013, it will not be the first time that the Supreme Court has played this critical role.

During President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first term, 1933-37, the Supreme Court struck down, in whole or in part, multiple New Deal related acts supported by the Roosevelt administration. In an eerie similarity to the current political landscape, the Democratic Party also held both houses of Congress as well as the White House.

The Supreme Court took its role as an independent third branch of the government so seriously that by the start of Roosevelt’s second term in 1937 he tried to expand the court and “pack” it with justices loyal to his cause in order to prevent the court from thwarting his big-government plans.

In reality, the SCOTUS justices who are most likely to retire in the next three years are mostly liberals. Four out of five justices over the age of 70 are liberals – Breyer (71), Kennedy (73), Ginsberg (76), and Stevens (89) – so unless Scalia (73) looks for the gold watch Obama may not have the opportunity to really change the make up of the court.

I can not find it in the archives, but I’m certain I wrote about this story at one point, suggesting the next president – if he was conservative – would have a great opportunity to bring the Court back into focus and resurrect the United States Constitution. The next opportunity will be in 2012.

I think a good indicator of the 2012 election outcome will be during the summer of 2012. If you see multiple justices retiring in 2012 Obama may well have the ability to ensure status quo at the court through 2025 or beyond. If a conservative takes the Executive Branch in 2012, you may just see a flood of oxygen tanks, respirators and medical personnel heading into the Supreme Court building to ensure the health and sustainability of three or four liberal judges for years to come.