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I think the Supreme Court is so important because whoever the president is, he will be gone in a few short years. But the makeup of the Supreme Court will affect the US (and the rest of the world through influence) for a long time to come.

Exactly, which makes the current state of affairs in travesty of justice called Supreme Court so serious. As I already noted here (earning me a carefuly worded remark on my naivete by Jim or Bitt ), one can bet with 90% probability how each of Justices will vote on any given case. Their decisions almost always reflect their, pardon the expression, values (a.k.a. prejudices). Which means that they don't give a damn for law or Constitution, just their personal prejudices or political agenda. At very best, the conservative ones play spiritual mediums trying to divine what plan a bunch of slave owners* had in mind 230 years ago for the premier nucler and high-tech superpower.

*) OK, probably not all of The Founding Fathers were slave owners, but you see my point.