The Court McCain Wants

The next president is almost certain to have one appointment, and quite possibly two or more. In addition, the oldest justices are also the most liberal: John Paul Stevens is 88; Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 75.

As a result, a President McCain could shift the court significantly to the right, while a President Obama would be lucky, even with a Democratic Senate, to nudge the court even a bit in a liberal direction. More likely, he would merely be able to maintain the shaky, conservative-leaning status quo.

And it is shaky indeed -- not just when it comes to abortion rights, the usual focus of Supreme Court debate in election years. Certainly, the addition of one or two conservative justices could mean, if not Roe's explicit demise, then a dramatic curtailing of the right to choose. Yet the court is at a tipping point on issues that range from the scope of presidential power to the separation of church and state to the future of affirmative action.

Ironically, one of the casualties of a McCain appointee to the high court could be McCain's signature campaign finance legislation. The handwriting for the demise of McCain-Feingold is already on the wall -- and it comes from the very justices he praises as model nominees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, who joined in a ruling last year to overturn a key part of the law.

What, one wonders, would a President McCain say if and when the rest of McCain-Feingold goes -- that this, too, is one of the worst decisions ever?

marcusr@washpost.com