Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court seems as certain as a Trump misspelling. Beneath a hurricane of political fuckery, he has sailed a relatively gentle wave to the highest court.

With a simple straight partisan vote, the Court will veer hard right. And when Ruth Bader Ginsberg kicks the bucket (she must be part granny cyborg), the Gang of Nine will completely lack a port bow. 

That’s terrible news for Roe v. Wade, whose tombstone is already being etched. Gay marriage must feel the ground tremble. And forget getting the Conservative Christian Citizenry (the KKK for the new millennium)  to bake cakes for people they don’t like.

But the CCC should be careful with its wish list.

In the 1930s, a conservative Supreme Court knocked down many of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs aimed at hoisting the country out of the Depression. Statutes letting industries and unions set wages and prices, raising farm income and regulating the coal industry were declared unconstitutional, as was a New York minimum wage law. 

That helped fuel a 1936 FDR landslide that also gave Democrats 76 Senate and 334 House seats, Election Day majorities neither party has ever matched. The triumph paved the way for congressional control that Democrats didn’t relinquish until after World War II.

The same risks threaten liberal courts. Liberal decisions of the 1960s helped power Richard Nixon’s law-and-order rise to the White House in 1968. Rulings buttressing criminals’ rights, like the Miranda vs. Arizona decision requiring authorities to inform arrested people of their rights, provided potent ammunition for Nixon at a time of racial unrest and growing crime rates. Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” remains a firmament of GOP strategy. 

The 1973 Roe v. Wade case legalizing abortion has been backed by strong majorities of Americans but spurred the rise of the anti-abortion movement and helped galvanize political involvement by Christian conservatives. Both remain vital factors in American politics and a driving force for the GOP.

The disconnect between the court’s ideological leanings and voters’ preferences is a simple matter of timing. Unlike social tastes, Supreme Court nominees last a lifetime. And courts are slower than Hollywood at taking public cues.

So a nod to GOP strong arming. It’s made quite a splash.

But history moves in tides, not waves. Be careful what you ask for.