Election Will Reverberate Beyond Supreme Court

The implications of this November’s general election reverberate beyond the highest court in the land. When the next president takes office there are likely to be dozens of judicial vacancies that will allow appointees to reshape the judiciary for decades to come. Currently, there are 73  vacancies on federal appeals and trial courts, the Wall Street Journal reports. Republicans have been blocking most of President Obama’s judicial nominees since taking control of the Senate, but his appointments had already substantially shifted the federal judiciary. When Obama first took office, Republican-appointed judges held majorities on nine of the 12 appeals courts. Now, Democratic-appointed judges represent majorities on eight of the courts.