The fate of the Supreme Court hinges on the next election.

Months after the sudden death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Senate Republicans are still refusing to fulfill their constitutional responsibility to give President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, a fair confirmation hearing.

To make matters worse: Our next president might be Donald Trump—and the short list of justices he’d consider nominating includes a judge who upheld a law requiring doctors to restrict reproductive rights and another judge who equated homosexual sex to “bestiality,” “pedophilia,” and “necrophilia.”

If that’s not scary enough, consider this: With three current justices nearing or older than 80 years—past the court’s average retirement age—the next president will likely have the opportunity to nominate several justices to the Supreme Court. And in doing so, she or he could have the power to transform the court, and American law, for generations to come.



Here’s what’s at stake—not just in this election, but for the future of our country:

1. Safe and legal abortion

Trump has proposed banning abortions, going as far as to suggest that women who get them would be “punished.” He’s also stated that he would only support justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade , the Supreme Court case that guaranteed American women their constitutional right to safe and legal abortion. Under a Trump presidency—with a court potentially filled with Trump appointees—the right to safe and legal abortion could become be a relic of the past.

2. Voting rights

Shelby County v. Holder gutted one of the most important parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a decision that has fueled a coordinated, Republican-led attack on the voting rights of people of color, low-income people, students, and seniors in recent years.

A conservative court would erode voting rights even further.

Just take a look at the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on North Carolina’s restrictive voting law. In late August, the Court declined to reinstate the law, but only because the justices split 4-4, leaving in place a lower court opinion that had struck it down. That means, if just one additional conservative justice had been on the court, North Carolina could have gotten away with passing a measure disproportionately preventing people of color from voting. In 2016.

Imagine how many similar laws could be passed—and upheld—across the country with a conservative-leaning court.

A conservative court could erode voting rights even further.

3. Marriage equality

The historic Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality was decided by a 5–4 margin. A shift in the balance of power on the bench would provide the conservative wing of the court an opportunity to reverse that decision—an opportunity that a Republican president like Trump would be happy to give them. (He denounced the Supreme Court’s affirmation of marriage equality and said he would consider appointing Justices to overturn it).

4. Campaign finance reform

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission allows corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence federal elections. Since that 2010 ruling, the conservative-led court has declined to revisit that decision—and more conservatives on the court would only work to cement the status quo.

That’s why Hillary Clinton has promised to do whatever it takes to overturn this ruling, including fighting for a constitutional amendment.

5. Affordable health care

The Affordable Care Act has now survived two attempts to strike it down in the Supreme Court—but there are more challenges to the law making their way through the lower courts. Trump has vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and you can bet the justices he’d appoint would lead the charge against the law that has given more than 20 million Americans the care they need.

6. President Obama’s executive actions on behalf of DREAMers and parents

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court split 4-4, leaving in place an appeals court ruling that blocked two of President Obama’s most important executive actions: DACA and expanded DAPA, which would have provided relief from the prospect of deportation for DREAMers and the parents of American citizens and lawful permanent residents.

While Hillary would fight for DACA and DAPA and keep families together, Trump is calling for the U.S. to build a wall and mass-deport 16 million people, including American citizens who were born here to undocumented parents. He also wants to permanently end DACA and DAPA, and, in turn, break apart millions of families.

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Regardless of who wins in the fall, the balance of the court hangs on this election. So, if you care about a woman’s right to safe and legal abortion; protecting voting rights; marriage equality; getting the outsized influence of money out of politics; giving more people access to health care; keeping families together; or preserving any other fundamental right, it’s time to register to vote.