Next November is the quadannual election of our nation’s president. This election season, the candidates are more distanced on the political spectrum than they have been since the beginning of the 20th century.

You have a candidate that can be called “far right”, Donald Trump, as well as a nearly socialist candidate in Bernie Sanders. Put those two in a room and they may agree only once when discussing thousands of issues.

This election season, it’s hard to play the ‘moderate voter’ because there aren’t many strong moderate candidates. Many people will have to choose for themselves whether they believe in a strong liberal or strong conservative agenda.

What makes this election even more important is the fact that in the next presidential term, there can be up to three Supreme Court vacancies with three current justices are over the age of 80.

The judicial branch as a whole is arguably the most powerful branch of our government, in that it basically decides what the constitution means and sets a precedent for federal laws based on the votes of only nine people.

Justices with seats in the highest court in the land are appointed by the president, not elected like most other federal officials. This means that the next president can potentially fill one-third of the Supreme Court with justices that will most likely align with their political agenda.

This is no small issue; the Supreme Court can make more immediate change than both of the other two branches combined. The United States federal government has a system of checks and balances, making sure that no branch has too much power.

For example, if Congress were to pass a bill but the president disagrees, he can veto it. However, if Congress really wanted that particular bill to pass, they can override the president’s veto by holding another vote in both chambers of Congress.

The judicial branch, while checked like the other two branches, has more leniency and freedom to do what they wish, as all their decisions are final and cannot be overturned by either of the two branches.

To give a sense of how powerful they are, look back at historic cases such as Roe v. Wade, the case that made abortion legal in 1973. This past summer, the Supreme Court heard the case Obergefell v. Hodges, a case surrounding the legality of gay marriage. A 5-4 ruling in favor of it made it the law of the land.

As it is evident, the Supreme Court can easily change laws that have been around since the conception of our country with only five votes.

Depending on who wins and where you put yourself on the political spectrum, this can either be a very good or bad thing. For both parties, however, it is equally as important in the present.

What makes them even more powerful is that they don’t have term limits, so they feel absolutely no pressure from the people. In other words, they don’t have to worry about re-election so they can make decisions that they think are best without the fear of losing their seat in the court.

Right now, it seems to me that our country can go in two different directions after this next election: either we take the trail to the right, where people are left to fend for themselves economically, taking an aggressive stance on foreign policy that may get things done faster, but also could create even larger problems.

Or we can take the left trail and establish social and economic safety nets for people coming from all walks of life, as well as a foreign policy dedicated on peaceful negotiations that may take longer to come into fruition but may also prevent larger conflicts from growing.

We are living in a historic time period right now; many of us haven’t realized this yet. The world is in more political tension than it has been since the height of the Cold War. Voters need to choose the people who they truly believe will be the best to lead us through this dark period.

With every conflict comes a chance to create real change in the world- let’s take advantage of that.

So, if you are 18 now or will be before the 2016 election, please register to vote and educate yourself about every candidate from far right to far left. This election season, you aren’t only electing a president, but also one-third of the highest court in the land.
Choose wisely.