Law Prof Predicts Federal Courts’ Future Under McCain, Obama

Expect significant changes in U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence if John McCain is elected the nation's next president, an American University law professor says.

Herman Schwartz, of the university's Washington College of Law, "foresees the court possibly overturning Roe v. Wade, but more likely dramatically limiting abortion rights," among other significant changes under as many as three high court justices potentially appointed by McCain, writes the Virginia Law Weekly. If he is correct, abortion rights likely would be limited "by interpreting them as a 'liberty interest,' which would allow states to outlaw all abortions except those that pose a severe threat to the mother’s life," the legal publication writes.

Meanwhile, if Barack Obama wins, a Democratic-controlled Congress might well authorize the appointment of additional federal judges, Schwartz suggests. However, Obama's impact on the Supreme Court is likely to be significant in maintaining the status quo, rather than changing it, by preventing what the legal publication describes as a foreseeable "hard move to the right" under McCain.

Regardless of who wins, Schwartz predicts, the next person named to the nation's top court will "almost certainly be a woman” and “very probably a woman of color.”

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