Let me take you back to middle school social studies class. Can you remember much from it? Neither could I. That's why I've decided to map out all you need to know about this situation and situations to come regarding the Supreme Court!
In The Supreme Court, there are nine justices in total. For decades, the Supreme Court has been split five Republicans to four liberals. This gives the conservatives a great advantage when deciding on major court cases, especially having to do with the Constitution.
Now let's travel back in time to 1986 when Ronald Reagan was president. In this year, Antonin Scalia was nominated to fill a Justice seat within the Court. The Senate elected him uncontested, and therefore, there was one more conservative in the Senate.
Balance is a really big issue government faces between the two parties. You can't have 50/50 for each group of electorates because nothing would ever get done, but that means one party will have the upper hand over another! In fact, for decades the Supreme Court has been balanced with five conservative judges to four liberal judges. The Republican party would really like to keep it that way, and that's why Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland is highly disliked by this party. Rarely ever is there an open seat during an election year. The only time this ever does happen if the seat was involuntarily vacated.
Usually there is an open seat when a current judge resigns and the timeline of their resignation is highly considered. Depending on what side they lean towards, they wait until a president of their party is in office so that said president can nominate yet another one from their party. To get a spot on the Supreme Court, the process is sometimes very easy and other times terribly difficult. Decided by the constitution, the president will decide between a list of candidates (made by himself and others who are around to help him), then he will nominate his "pick" for the spot. Once this happens, the candidate is sent to the senate, where they vote to either approve or deny this nomination. The usual timeline is usually around 67 days, but we all know that every time around is different than the next.
Right now the Republican party (GOP) has dominance in the Senate, which makes President Obama's nomination very interesting. (President Obama is a Democrat if you didn't know!)
A little more information is needed on Merrick Garland to proceed. Merrick Garland is currently the top Court of Appeals judge in Washington, DC who is well-liked by both parties because he is a Centrist. It's the president's way of saying, "I dare you to turn down a pick this good!" And yet, the GOP came out and said there is no way they will even give Garland a hearing in the senate. They plan to just wait it out until November comes around and they have a chance for a Republican president to come out with a new nominee.
There are a lot of what ifs right now and many possible outcomes. If Merrick Garland is elected for the seat, the Supreme Court will lean left for the first time in a very long time, but the GOP won't rest until they are secure with the current balance. Only time will tell for the fate of the Supreme Court but for Merrick Garland, his outcome is not looking too good.
