US Politics

Supreme Court’s political swing sparks fears of a constitutional crisis

In under two weeks, the conservative-dominated court has issued hard-right rulings on abortion, guns, climate change, voting rights and the role of religion in public life – and President Joe Biden appears powerless to do anything about it

An anti-abortion activist protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court on June 27, 2022 in Washington, DC. Ten days after the court’s decision to overturn Roe vs Wade, its impact is fast becoming apparent. Picture: Getty

Last week, history was made when Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first African American woman to take a seat on the US Supreme Court bench. In some respects, her timing couldn’t be better – or worse.

In its most controversial legal term in recent history, the court has handed down rulings that have stripped away the constitutionally protected right to abortion, trampled on the long-established rights of states to enforce gun control legislation and thrown ...