The high court is gearing up for a politically explosive year with a series of blockbuster cases that have the power to reshape American life.
— 40 percent in a recent Gallup poll — despite some efforts by Chief Justice John Roberts to burnish the image of the institution.“There’s great potential for a public backlash if the court’s Republican majority goes for broke in these looming cases,” said Brian Fallon, a former Senate leadership aide who co-founded the progressive judicial group Demand Justice.
“They underestimate how women will react in our country about having their freedom to make their own reproductive health choices taken away,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., told NBC News. “People have always thought this never really would happen. And if it does happen, and we see the horror stories of circumstances for women, I think there will be outrage.”Although a large majority of Americans say Roe v.
The cases come at a time when the justices are preparing for a new arrival with Justice Stephen Breyer announcing plans to retire this summer. Replacing him with another liberal justice, which Democrats are well-positioned to do, would not alter the 6-3 balance of the court. But it is unlikely to be a smooth process in the ever-heating crucible of Senate confirmation fights.