DENVER – When President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court is confirmed, it is likely the nation’s highest court will be more conservative than it has been in decades.
University of Denver political science professor Joshua Wilson says Justice Kennedy only sided with liberals on a handful of issues, but his departure will tilt decisions to the right.
“What will fundamentally change -- issues that would have been sided in a conservative way before will be decided in an even more conservative way now,” he told Anne Trujillo on this weekend’s Politics Unplugged. “And in the special issues where Kennedy used to swing and go with the liberal block of the court, those are likely to change as well.”
Wilson says there are many issues that you can expect to see come back in front of the court after the make-up of the bench changes.
“The main issues that come up in my head are abortion politics, gay rights and affirmative action,” he said, adding he expects the topic of abortion to be the first one brought back before the justices.
Politics Unplugged airs Sundays at 4:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Denver7 and noon on K3-KCDO.
