Under the Obama administration, the face of the Supreme Court is likely to change but only time will tell how much, ASU experts said.

With the likelihood of two seats on the bench opening in the next four years and another one possibly opening after 2012, Obama could have a hand in a philosophical shift in the Court, said Kelly McDonald, communications assistant professor in the School of Letters and Sciences.

“It could potentially change the ideological views of a Republican-influenced court,” said McDonald, versed in the field of presidential debates and national politics. “But you never know what you’re going to get with a judge sometimes. You just don’t know until you get there.”

McDonald said former President Ronald Reagan’s appointment of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was thought to be a conservative choice, but she turned out to be more centrist.

Obama will be the first Democratic president since Lyndon B. Johnson to have the luxury of appointing justices that fully meet his more liberal views on different constitutional issues, said ASU professor emeritus George Watson, who has taught courses on government and politics.

“The substantial Democratic majority in the Senate will permit him to cast a wide net in finding and nominating individuals who fit with his view of the court,” Watson said.

Supreme Court justices have life tenure on the court. Although the Supreme Court is non-partisan, when a seat opens, the president nominates and the Senate confirms a justice. Barring a death while serving, justices generally retire under a president who he or she agrees with ideologically, McDonald said.

Obama’s experience as a constitutional law professor will play a role in how he makes his decisions, McDonald said.

“His intimate knowledge of constitutional law and standing law of the land will inform the judicial temperament and the type of judge he will consider,” she said.

In the next four years, the two oldest justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens might retire, McDonald said. Both are the only justices in the current court appointed by Democratic presidents.

Watson said if those two justices were to depart the court, not much would change from appointments by Obama.

However, McDonald said his initial speculation is if Obama might make a landmark appointment.

“Will he present a candidate who will break a barrier? For example a Hispanic or maybe another woman,” McDonald said.

A third Obama appointment could be possible if the president-elect wins a second term, and could be much more significant in changing the court, McDonald said.

“Now the philosophical differences within the court are deep and will be unlikely to shift [unless Obama nominates a third justice],” McDonald said.

Reach the reporter at philip.haldiman@asu.edu.