Election To Decide Future Of Supreme Court

The presidential election that is set to take place in just over 3 weeks from now will have a big impact not only on the direction that the country is going to take politically for the next 4 to 8 years but it will be big in determining the future bent of the Supreme court for decades to come. The current make up of the Court has a heavy lean to the right with 7 of the current 9 justices having been appointed by republican presidents. Only 2 of the current justices serving were appointed by a president who was a democrat, Bill Clinton. Currently 6 of the 9 justices who are serving on the court are 70 years old or over (well one of the six i counted is 69, David Souter) If John McCain prevails in the November election it is possible that during his term he could appoint enough new justices to actually turn the entire court conservative. The court would in effect have a total lean to the right and this would be the case for decades likely since the appointees are set in place for life. Below is a list of the current make up of the Supreme Court. It lists each member of the court, the year they were appointed, the president who appointed them, and their current age:

John Roberts -------2006--- Bush Jr.--------- 53 years old
Samuel Alito --------2006----Bush Jr.---------58 years old
Steven Breyer------ 1994---- Clinton----------70 years old
Ruth Ginsburg------1993---- Clinton---------- 75 years old
Anthony Kennedy---1988---- Reagan----------72 years old
Antonin Scalia------1986---- Reagan--------- 72 years old
David Souter--------1990---- Bush Sr.-------- 69 years old
John Paul Stevens--1975-----Ford------------ 88 years old
Clerence Thomas---1990---- Bush Sr.-------- 60 years old

Post script - On August 8th, 2009 the newest Supreme Court Justice was placed on the court. Sonia Sotomayor was appointed by President Obama in May of 2009 after Justice David Souter announced his desire to retire from the court by the end of June 2009. Sotomayor is 55 years old.