The 2016 presidential campaign already feels like it has gone on forever. But now is not the time to tune out or bail out. Among other things, the party that controls the White House in 2017 will almost certainly play a role in determining the balance of power on the U.S. Supreme Court for years to come.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will turn 83. Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy will be 80. Stephen Breyer will turn 78. The next president will make at least one lifetime appointment to the high court. And with the court now divided 5 to 4, with conservatives in the majority, each appointment is pivotal.

A Republican victory in the November elections would have far-reaching consequences for the labor movement and for progressive ideals in general.

In landmark decisions like those on school segregation and same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court has expanded civil rights by striking down laws that violate the U.S. Constitution. But the court also has the power to do great damage.

The conservative majority on the court could soon deal a devastating blow to working people in the Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association case. After establishing that corporations have First Amendment rights in its controversial 2010 Citizens United decision that lifted the cap on campaign spending, the court may overturn a 40-year-old precedent by asserting that collective bargaining by a public-sector union is an inherently political activity that violates the First Amendment rights of agency fee payers.

The most contentious public policy issues eventually find their way before the Supreme Court. In the years ahead, we can expect the court to weigh in on gun control, abortion, voting rights, immigration reform and much more.

It’s a compelling reason why we need Democrats to retain the White House in November.