Potential long lasting impact of President-Elect Trump on the US Supreme Court

The constitution of the United States gives the US president the power to nominate justices to the US Supreme Court, the highest court in the land and the battleground on which issues of states rights, individual rights vs. government, civil rights etc. are duly fought.  Article II, section 2 of the Constitution provides that the president “shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ... judges of the Supreme Court.”  Although presidential nominees to the Supreme Court must go through a grueling Senate hearing process, the end result of nomination by a sitting President is that justices on the Supreme Court are generally identifiable along ideological lines of appointment by a particular president. In February 2016, the death of Justice Antonin Scalia left a seat vacant on the Supreme Court and despite President Obama proposing a successor, the Republican senate refused to hold a confirmation hearing and the seat remains vacant ….