Nixon, the Supreme Court, and the Politics of Electoral Realignment

Excerpt

For a president, appointing a Supreme Court justice can be a transcendent act—a defining moment that, almost more than any other single decision he will make while in office, establishes his presidency’s legacy. Presidents, after all, only have a limited time in office during which they can devise their social, economic, and political vision and try to shape the future; by contrast, the Justices they appoint to the Supreme Court can and do shape that future for a generation through their judicial votes and opinions.