SCOTUS justices — especially Republican nominees — get more liberal as they age
Analysis of Supreme Court justices' voting habits from FiveThirtyEight finds that the older a SCOTUS judge becomes, the further to the left his or her voting record will drift:
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This is especially the case for justices nominated by Republican presidents: While Democratic nominees become more liberal as well, the transformation is more significant for GOP picks. The trend holds true for the current justices, though in his short tenure, Justice Samuel Alito has actually moved slightly to the right.
As for why this happens, FiveThirtyEight posits no less than seven theories, the most convincing of which may be research that suggests (contrary to popular wisdom) that it's fairly common for people to become less strictly conservative with age.
