The president appoints Supreme Court justices by and with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate. In practice, presidents appoint justices whom they believe will make rulings that favour their own politics. In other words, Republican administrations appoint right-leaning justices, and Democratic administrations appoint left-leaning ones. Unless gay men and women reengage themselves with U.S. politics, they could face an unfriendly president and Senate after November 2012, just when key gay rights cases arrive at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Why is that important, given that there are currently no vacancies on the nine-member Supreme Court bench? Well, because the next presidential term could see three or more such vacancies arise.
Supreme Court justices are appointed for life, but that doesn't stop them from retiring. The average age at retirement of the last five Supreme Court justices was around 79.5 years. By the time of the 2016 presidential election, three of the current justices will exceed that age: Ruth Ginsburg (appointed by Clinton), Antonin Scalia (appointed by Reagan) and Anthony Kennedy (also appointed by Reagan). Moreover, that average retirement age of 79.5 is inflated by the June 2010 retirement of John Paul Stevens, the oldest member of the Supreme Court in history (he was 90 when he retired). Take him out of the equation and the average retirement age falls to 77, which would put Stephen Breyer (appointed by Clinton) in line for probable retirement, as well. It's therefore conceivable that four out of nine sitting justices could retire in the next presidential term.
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