In general, though, a court with the chief justice at its center would most likely move steadily to the right in measured steps. “I would be somewhat surprised if any of the cases relating to affirmative action, abortion, same-sex marriage or the death penalty are flat out overruled,” Professor Gornstein said. Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley, said there was a good way to determine where the Supreme Court would head if that happens. That same year, he wrote the majority opinion in Fisher v. University of Texas, upholding a race-conscious admissions program at the state’s flagship university. Both decisions would almost certainly have come out differently had Justice Gorsuch, Mr. Trump’s first appointee, and Judge Kavanaugh been on the court.

Source: New York Times September 02, 2018 20:03 UTC