Hot-Button Issues Will Be on Ct's Front Burner (immediate balance shift?)

[DeepModem Mom]

Los Angeles Times:
Hot-Button Issues Will Be on Court's Front Burner
The new justice will have to take stands on the death penalty, abortion and more from the start.

By David G. Savage, Times Staff Writer


WASHINGTON — If confirmed by the Senate, President Bush's Supreme Court nominee could have a decisive impact this fall on cases involving abortion, assisted suicide, the death penalty and the government's pursuit of the war on terrorism, judging from the schedule of upcoming cases published by the court Thursday.

The court has been closely split on those issues, and the cases illustrate how a more conservative successor to retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor could tip the balance to the right — and right from the start.

Judge John G. Roberts Jr., if confirmed, would face such a test in his first week on the high court. On Oct. 5, justices will hear the Bush administration's challenge to the nation's only "right to die" law....

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Two abortion cases could give an early hint as to whether Roberts would join Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas in seeking to repeal the abortion right....

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The court will also take up cases that test the limits of the government's power to fight the war on terrorism, another issue that divides along liberal-conservative lines....


http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-calendar22jul22,0,856719.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[DanCa]

1. October is "pro life month"

That's why chimpy is so hot to have roberts installed on the bench asap. It'll be icing on the cake to his base.