surprise: there’s even more at stake

USA Today: A different October surprise -
Pick your issue. From abortion rights to racial preferences to religious freedom, every voter's life could be touched by the next president's appointments to the sharply divided court.

Though the candidates have been vague about the kind of justices they would pick, a reasonable bet is that Bush would expand the conservative bloc, and Kerry, the liberal faction. That's what social activists on both sides of the ideological spectrum expect.
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Consider some of the 5-4 decisions in recent years that could be reversed by a change of just one justice. The court upheld taxpayer-funded vouchers for children to attend religious schools. It knocked down a law banning late-term abortions. It upheld affirmative action in college admissions.

And it ended the Florida recount of 2000 that allowed Bush to become president.