Democrats Shift to Seize on Supreme Court as 2020 Campaign Issue
- Prospect of losing abortion rights is galvanizing liberals
- Conservatives have long held an intensity edge on the courts
The Supreme Court Building in Washington DC.
Photographer: Eric BaradatAFP via Getty Images
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Democrats are attempting to turn the Supreme Court into a campaign issue as they confront President Donald Trump’s success at reshaping the federal judiciary with young, conservative judges and the prospect that abortion rights are close to being eliminated.
It’s a shift after decades of GOP candidates rallying their voters with promises to reshape the courts in a backlash to Warren Court rulings of the 1960s, and Roe v. Wade in 1973, the landmark abortion-rights ruling. That dynamic lasted through the 2016 election, when Trump won over skeptical evangelicals by vowing to pick conservative justices who would allow states to outlaw abortion.