États-Unis : les nominations à la Cour suprême, enjeu des élections de 2016
With the death of Justice Antonin Scalia on February 13, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States lost a beacon of conservative thought and one of the most influential American jurists of the last thirty years. The question of his replacement immediately became an issue as the United States looks forward to the presidential election in November. While past nominations to the Supreme Court have been relatively uncontentious, nominations today are affected by the polarization of American politics.
At the forefront of the debate is a highly politicized struggle between President Obama, who proposed judge Merrick Garland, a rather centrist candidate, and the Republican camp, which contends that a president at the end of his term of office should not appoint a new Justice to the court and thus refuses to even hold hearings for the nominee, let alone an up and down vote.
In addition to the vacancy caused by Scalia's death, four other current judges are likely nearing the end of their tenures due to their advanced age. America's next president may therefore have the opportunity to nominate a number of new Justices. If the democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is elected, the ideological composition of the court, generally considered rather conservative since the appointment of Scalia in 1986 could become somewhat more liberal. In view of the impact of the Supreme Court's decisions on many aspects of Americans' everyday lives and on the balance of power in the country, this would have considerable consequences for decades to come.
This content is available in French: "Les Etats-Unis : les nominations à la Cour suprême, enjeu des élections de 2016."
Author(s)
Related centers and programs
Discover our other research centers and programs
Americas Program
Ifri's work on the Americas region focuses mainly on the United States. Indeed, for more than 20 years, Ifri's Americas Program has provided keys to understanding American society and domestic policy while shedding light on developments in the country's foreign policy, including transatlantic relations and trade issues.
Since 2023, a specific axis on Latin America structures more actively Ifri's research on this region.
Ifri's Canada program was active in 2015 and 2016.
Find out more
Discover all our analyses
Water in Mexico: an Emergency that Will Wait
Access to water is already and will become increasingly problematic for Mexican economic actors due to the progressive scarcity of the resource resulting from climate change, a geographical distribution that does not coincide with that of the population or economic activity, and management that has so far been far too lax.
Donald Trump v. the States: the Case of New York
While the disruptive policies of the second Trump administration are being implemented at the federal level and on the international stage, they are also being felt in the federal states and major cities across the country. In the spring of 2025, several cases involving the state and city of New York demonstrate that the president’s attacks on environmental protection, the separation of powers, freedom of speech, etc., are also being carried out at the local level.
How the US under Trump Became a Strategic and Ideological Adversary of Europe
The Europeans' worst security nightmare seems to be coming true: on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Saudi Arabia to initiate the normalization of relations between their two countries. The meeting also aimed to set up peace negotiations for Ukraine. However, despite having the potential to affect the entire continent, the discussions took place without the Europeans or the Ukrainians being present.
Will Trumpian Authoritarianism Lead to a Constitutional Crisis?
Since his return to the White House on January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump has signed around sixty executive orders to implement his political agenda. Numerous other measures have also been introduced by the White House and the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as part of these orders.