A Bolt of Lightning: Measuring the Impact of Modern Transitions on the Supreme Court

Lightning struck on September 18, 2020. In a year in which so many unimaginable events had unfolded and were unfolding, the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sent shock waves not only through the nation’s legal community, but throughout the country. Ginsburg, a champion of women’s rights as both lawyer and Justice, the multi-time survivor of cancer, the Court’s tiny, surprising, and notorious rock star, passed away at a precarious moment. Aside from the existential challenge presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation was 46 days from a presidential election.

Given that the responsibility of nominating Supreme Court Justices fell to the President, battle lines were drawn over whether the current President ought to move forward nominating a replacement for Justice Ginsburg, or rather, whether the results of the election should impact who the next Justice would be.