Post by mcnutt on Aug 10, 2018 16:23:29 GMT
The first POD comes in 1986. When President Reagan appoints William Rehnquist Chief Justice, he selects Robert Bork to replace Rehnquist as Associate Justice. The after effect of this POD comes the next year when Justice Lewis Powell retires. Antonin Scala replaces him. The second POD comes in 1990. We cancel Justice William Brennen’s stroke. He does not retire or advise Justice Thurgood Marshal to retire. Justice Marshall still dies on January 24th 1993. Newly sworn in President Clinton nominates African American Appeals Court Judge Harry Edwards and the Senate quickly confirms him. At the end of the 1993 term, Justices Byron White and William Brennen retire. Appeals Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg replaces White and NewYork Governor Mario Cuomo replaces Brennen. The next year Justice Harry Blackmun retires and is replaced by Appeals Court Judge Stephen Breyer. The third POD comes in 1995. Chief Justice Rehnquist’s death is moved back ten years. He was a smoker. He could have died of lung cancer in 1995. Former Senate Majority Leader and federal judge George Mitchell takes his place. In the 2000 decision Boy Scouts of America vs Dale. Chief Justice Mitchell, Justices Ginsberg, Cuomo and Breyer provide the majority for Justice Stevens opinion that required the Boy Scouts to obey New Jersey’s anti discrimination law that would require the Scouts to include gays. The decision shocked social conservatives and allowed George W Bush to use the Supreme Court as an issue that would help bring members of the religious right to the polls. This issue is credited with Bush’s ability to win a larger plurality in the national popular vote and to win the close states of Florida ( He wins without a recount.There is no Bush vs Gore.) Wisconsin,Iowa, New Mexico and Oregon. Bush would go on to be the fourth President not name someone to the Supreme Court, along with Andrew Johnson, Jimmy Carter and his Father George H W Bush. This is because of the fourth POD. OTL Sandra Day O Conner left the court in 2005 to take care of her husband who suffered from alzheimer’s. ITTL we delay his illness and we kill him off in an auto accident New Year’s Eve 2006-2007. O Conner finds her work on the court is a comfort to her as a grieving widow. She does not retire the year before a presidential election or when a Democrat is elected President. The year of Obama’s election, Chief Justice Mitchell, Justices Ginsberg, Cuomo and Breyer would support Justice Stevens opinion in DC vs Heller that the Second Amendment does not provide a right to bear arms outside of militia service. In 2009, Justice Edwards would be replaced by African American former Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court Leah Sears. In 2010, Chief Justice Mitchell, Justices Ginsberg, Cuomo and Breyer would support Justice Stevens opinion in Citizens United vs FEC that preserved the regulations on corporate political speech. At the end of that year’s term Justice Stevens would retire and be replaced by Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomeyer, the first Hispanic Justice. Chief Justice Mitchell would retire in 2011 and be replaced by Solicitor General Elena Kagan. When Justice Bork died in 2012, he was replaced by Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland. In 2013 Chief Justice Kagan, Justices, Cuomo,Breyer, Sears and Garland would support Justice Ginsberg’s opinion in Shelby vs Holder that would uphold the Voting Rights Act. That year that same majority would overturn the Defense of Marriage Act in US vs Windsor. The fifth POD comes in 2013. Health problems force Justice O Conner to resign from the court. She replaced by Appeals Court Judge Diane Woods. In 2014 Chief Justice Kagan, Justices Ginsberg, Cuomo, Breyer, Sears Garland and Woods support the opinion in Burwell vs Hobby Lobby that required all health insurances plans to include birth control. At the beginning of 2015 following the death of Justice Cuomo former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano came to the court. That same year we see the sixth POD. We advance the death of the great dissenter Antonin Scalia one year. He dies on February 28th 2015. President Obama nominates Appeals Court Judge Jacqueline Nguyen and the Republican Senate confirms her. With White, Black, Hispanic and Asian Justices and a female majority, the Kagan Court set a new standard for resembling America. It also had a liberal consensus in most major cases. We saw this in Obergefell vs Hodges where all nine Justices supported the right to same sex marriage. The OTL ties in 2016 ITTL are unanimous liberal victories. At the end of the 2018 term the court announced 9-0 decisions that affirmed the right of unions to collect fees from non members and overturned President Trump’s travel ban.
