Unit 2 Free-Response Questions: Prompt 3 — Unit test
Question 20 • AP US Government and Politics
After a moderate Supreme Court justice retires, a Democratic president near the end of his second term nominates a new justice with a moderate background. The Republican Senate majority leader blocks the nomination until the end of the congressional session. A newly elected Republican president nominates a conservative judge to the position. This nominee is confirmed by the Republican-majority Senate. During the first term, the new justice sides with other conservative justices to render several 5–4 opinions.
Answer
A
Justices must take neutral positions and not let their ideology influence court decisions.
B
Justices’ decisions will always match the party ideology of the president who nominated them.
C
A new justice must maintain the balance of ideology and make decisions consistent with the retiring justice’s views.
D
A justice with different ideology from a retiring justice may cause the court to lean a particular direction for decades.
Explanation
The new conservative justice replaced a moderate justice and then joined other conservatives in several closely divided 5–4 decisions. Replacing a moderate with a justice of a different ideology can shift the Court’s ideological balance, and that effect may last for decades because justices serve for life. This supports choice D: the court may lean in a particular direction for decades.
AI-written and checked against the verified answer.