The Supreme Court of the United States has been making monumental decisions, reversing legislation that has been in place for decades.
To understand the political influence behind their decisions, Texas A&M Central University professor, Dr. Dixon, weighed in.
He said the Supreme Court uses their political ideologies to push legislation. He added that every SCOTUS has done this, but sometimes, the courts lean progressive and sometimes they are more conservative.
“Today’s court is probably the most conservative ones we’ve had since the 1940’s, clearly more conservative than the 1950’s Warren court or even the Burger court of the 1970’s,” Dixon said.
To provide some insight into Dixon’s statement, Brown vs. Board of Education under the Warren Court in the ’50s. This was the landmark case that said state-sanctioned racial segregation in schools violated the 14th Amendment and was deemed unconstitutional.
Most of the justices on the court at the time were appointed by Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower. When Warren needed replacing in the ’70s, Burger was appointed by the Republican President Richard Nixon.
Under Burger’s court, cases on abortion, capitol punishment, pornography and more were handled.
In present day, Dixon says not only is the Supreme Court polarized, but the American people are polarized toward the court.
“I think that the public might be more polarized on the Supreme Court than they’ve previously been,” he said. “But the court itself has always been fairly politically polarized between the justices on the left and the justices on the right.”
There is a justice on the court called the median, which is current Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Dixon said two moderate justices preceded Kavanaugh. Ever since he was appointed, the court has swayed conservative.
Dixon says this will always happen, and choices like reversing Roe vs. Wade might not be the last, whether the court leans left or right.
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