For similar reasons, conservatives whose priorities are heavily dependent on the composition of the federal judiciary have good reason to roll the dice on Trump. Many executive and legislative actions on abortion and religious liberty can easily be blocked by Congress or undone by a future Republican president. But judicial decisions are much more difficult to roll back and can long outlast any president. Roe v. Wade, for example, has survived 43 years and five Republican presidents. Clinton would have an opportunity to install a liberal majority on the Supreme Court. Those appointments are for life. Only Trump can stop her.
Liberal judges could remove some issues of importance to social conservatives from the legislative process entirely. Eroding the Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision would endanger the state and federal abortion restrictions that have been enacted since 1992, perhaps even wiping them out completely. Social conservatives could become as powerless over abortion policy as they now are at legislating their marriage policy preferences.
That powerlessness could last a long time. It could last forever. Conservatives have waited decades to overturn decisions legalizing abortion and banning school prayer. No constitutional amendment on these issues has even come close to ratification.
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