Trump Supreme Court pick: Why is the US top court so important?

Donald Trump has unveiled Neil Gorsuch as his nominee for the US Supreme Court.
Given the immense impact the US Supreme Court has on US political life, the nominee will face tough questions from the Senate during any confirmation hearings.
So how might this pick change the nation’s high court?
What does the Supreme Court do?
The highest court in the US is often the final word on highly contentious laws, disputes between states and the federal government, and final appeals to stay executions.
It hears fewer than 100 cases a year and the key announcements are made in June. Each of the nine justices serve a lifetime appointment after being nominated by the president and approved by the Senate.
Cases are usually brought to the court after they are appealed from a series of lower courts, although in time-sensitive cases, lawyers can petition for a hearing. The court’s opinions can also create precedents, directing other judges to follow their interpretation in similar cases.
In recent years, the court has expanded gay marriage to all 50 states, halted President Obama’s immigration orders and delayed a US plan to cut carbon emissions while appeals went forward.
Occasionally, the Supreme Court will revisit an issue in a new case and change their own precedent, a move anti-abortion activists hope will come to pass with a new conservative justice.

What are key issues in front of the court?
The court already has cases this term on the rights of transgender students, gerrymandered voting districts and on a Texas’ death penalty determination.
It is also likely the court will hear cases on voter rights, abortion, racial bias in policing and in the legal system, as well as US immigration policy in the upcoming years.
Mr Trump’s executive order on banning refugees and travellers from Muslim-majority nations may also end up on the Supreme Court’s plate.
One of the defining moments of the US election campaign was the death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia. As I travelled across America, Republicans who didn’t like Mr Trump’s brashness, or his language towards women, told me they were prepared to overlook that for one reason: Mr Trump’s pledge to appoint a conservative judge to replace Scalia.

Donald Trump won big with evangelical Christians, who don’t support abortion or gay marriage – issues the court has had a say on in the past. For them, changes under the Obama years such as increased LGBT rights were an affront to their core values.
Last week thousands of Trump supporters attended the March for Life, against abortion. As Vice-President Mike Pence addressed the crowds he told them they were “winning again”. President Trump’s Supreme Court pick represents more than a new justice on the bench, but a moment where conservative values could once again dominate the agenda in Washington DC.

What’s the current state of the court?
While a majority of Supreme Court cases do not break on ideological lines, there are conservative and liberal wings. Key cases have been decided on 5-4 votes.
With Scalia’s death, the court is arguably divided four-four.
Confirming a conservative justice with similar views to Scalia would ultimately return the court to a narrow conservative majority, but it would not guarantee wins on all the issues Mr Trump has described as a priority.
Justice Anthony Kennedy is considered the court’s swing vote, having sided with both the conservative and liberal justices on major cases.
Liberals and legal advocates on the other side of these issues are also concerned about the potential for Mr Trump to nominate a second justice during his term.
In March, President Obama nominated Merrick Garland, a federal appeals judge, for the empty seat. But Republicans refused to hold a hearing or vote on Mr Garland’s nomination, and he is no longer under consideration.
During their year without a ninth justice, the court continued to work, with some cases affected by Scalia’s death.
Graphic showing which Supreme Court justices were nominated by Republican and Democratic presidents
A 4-4 deadlock on Mr Obama’s immigration order left the legal status of about four million undocumented immigrants in limbo. Public sector labour unions got a temporary win in another tied case, but no precedent was set because of the split.
But the court also rejected a conservative challenge to a university affirmation action policy in a 4-3 vote, after Justice Kagan recused herself. And justices voted 5-3 to strike down a pair of Texas abortion restriction laws.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer has said congressional Democrats would be willing to block confirmation and leave the seat open if Mr Trump does not name a “mainstream nominee”.

Does the court matter globally?
US research suggests that the influence of the Supreme Court abroad has diminished over the past two decades, as court systems elsewhere in the world develop and US influence in general wanes.
Fewer courts internationally cite US Supreme Court opinions, increasingly citing the European Court of Human Rights and other national supreme courts.
Last year a Supreme Court decision on emissions from coal-fired power plants on US soil threatened the Paris Climate Agreement, but enough other countries ratified the treaty for it to come into force.
Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban, which affects seven Middle East countries designated as terror-prone, could yet reach the Supreme Court, with the outcome affecting millions internationally.
And back in 2000, the Supreme Court decided the outcome of the Presidential election between George W Bush and Al Gore – a decision which more recent history shows still has a significant impact around the world.
The court could in theory be asked to rule on legal challenges to international trade agreements, such as the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership, although TPP was revoked by Mr Trump using an executive order.

Source: BBC