Fox News anchor Bret Baier noted on Tuesday evening that the major dividend of a bigger Republican majority in the Senate would be in allowing President Trump to confidently nominate a more conservative Supreme Court justice if any further vacancies open up.
The latest data suggest that Republicans may well increase their Republican majority as new results come in over the coming hours. And that bears consideration in the context of the future balance of the nation’s highest court. Any retirement — including a possible retirement by Justice Clarence Thomas or by one of the court’s liberals — would give Trump would the opportunity to appoint his third Supreme Court nominee.
Crucially, however, unlike in the cases of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, a 53-seat (or more?) GOP Senate majority would give Trump added consolidation to appoint a more conservative justice. Perhaps someone in the vein of 7th Circuit Federal Appeals Court Judge Amy Barrett. In the end it’s basic math: Trump would have more room to lose a couple of unreliable Republican votes and still confirm his favored nominee. And as Trump moves toward the 2020 presidential election, he would surely jump at any opportunity to consolidate his credentials with conservative Republicans.
Regardless, the simple point here is that even though Democrats will control the House — and thus have means of obstructing much of the Republican legislative agenda — the margin of Republican victory in the Senate matters greatly.
