One would have to go back to Richard Nixon to find a first-term president whose nominees have so reshaped the Supreme Court's direction, and for decades to come. (Jonathan Newton/The Post)

If Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed, it will likely mean a lower bar for laws that restrict abortion. It will bring higher scrutiny of gun regulation. The Affordable Care Act is on the docket again, and one member of the scant majority that upheld it in 2012 is gone. And whether the public continues to see the court as the government’s most functional branch is on the line as well.