| A five-vote majority on the Supreme Court is "inherently fragile," writes Post deputy editorial page editor Ruth Marcus, a mandate to "proceed with baby steps." But a six-vote majority? That's a completely "different animal," she adds, "emboldened rather than hesitant." And now that conservatives control six seats on the nation's highest court, a sea change is coming. That change is fully fleshed out in our latest Opinions Essay, "The Rule of Six: A newly radicalized Supreme Court is poised to reshape the nation." Ruth's essay traces the history – as well some of the rivalries – among the Court's six conservative justices (three of whom are relative newcomers) and explains why the six may be on the threshold of overhauling our understanding of rules governing abortion, gun ownership, voting rights, environmental law and executive privilege. Ruth has been working on the essay for several months but has in many ways been preparing for it since she joined the Post in 1984. A graduate of Yale and then Harvard Law School, she is the author of Supreme Ambition: Brett Kavanaugh and the Conservative Takeover. And her regular Post opinion columns, which often turn on the Court and legal questions of the day, made her a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2007. The new court, now less than two months into its October term, is already unlike any in at least a century. Its legacy, Ruth concludes, is unlikely to be modest. "Conservatives" she writes, "have time to write their views into the law books, where they will remain for decades to come. The change they choose to enact will be swift or slow; it will be open or stealthy. But make no mistake: It is coming. The court, and the nation, will be worse off for it." Thank you for reading.  (Sébastien Thibault for The Washington Post) Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. holds the reins but is no longer firmly in control of his horses. Some of his most conservative justices are champing at the bit. The Opinions Essay ● By Ruth Marcus ● Read more » |    | | | | 
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