After a moderate Supreme Court justice retires, a Democratic president near the end of his second term nominates a new justice with a moderate background. The Republican Senate majority leader blocks the nomination until the end of the congressional session. A newly elected Republican president nominates a conservative judge to the position. This nominee is confirmed by the Republican-majority Senate. During the first term, the new justice sides with other conservative justices to render several 5–4 opinions. What does this scenario reveal about the implications of replacing a Supreme Court justice? Justices must take neutral positions and not let their ideology influence court decisions. Justices’ decisions will always match the party ideology of the president who nominated them. A new justice must maintain the balance of ideology and make decisions consistent with the retiring justice’s views. A justice with different ideology from a retiring justice may cause the court to lean a particular direction for decades.