Not that we needed it, but an avalanche of news from the U.S. Supreme Court has reminded us again that elections have consequences.

The top court lifted most of the injunction against the Trump administration's controversial travel ban yesterday, while agreeing to hear arguments later this year about the lawfulness of that executive order. It's an important case that will define the limits of presidential power at a time when many Americans are worried about just that.

By the time arguments are introduced next fall, though, President Donald Trump might well have put his stamp even more lastingly on the Supreme Court by filling another vacancy there in the same manner that he filled the last one.

Washington is aswirl with speculation that Justice Anthony Kennedy is about to step down after nearly 30 years on the bench. It was thought he might do so yesterday. He didn't.

But at the age of 80, the speculation will continue until he finally goes.

The Republican-appointed Kennedy has served for nearly 30 years. As arguably the only true moderate on the bench, he has often served as a swing vote. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Kennedy isn't even the oldest judge. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 84. And another Democratic-appointed justice, Stephen Breyer, isn't far behind, at 78.

This is the stuff of liberal nightmares, but we will stick to the Kennedy possibility for now to show how profound its impact could be.

Conservatives will lick their chops and liberals will be too nervous to spit when Kennedy retires, because they both know what will come next.

Sustained shift

Trump will do as he did when he filled the Supreme Court seat left by Antonin Scalia. He pulled Neil Gorsuch's name from a list drawn up by the right-leaning think-tank Heritage Foundation and others who share the same conservative judicial philosophy.

There will be hearings to quiz the nominee about his or her views on abortion, campaign fundraising and so on.

There will be debate and Democrats will probably try to mount a filibuster to block the confirmation vote. But Republicans will quickly crush it and the process will end with Trump's nominee taking a seat on the court for the next 30 years, quite possibly longer.

After the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, President Donald Trump appointed another conservative: Neil Gorsuch. But he's unlikely to replace Kennedy with anyone like Kennedy. (Alex Brandon/Associated Press)

Most important will be the impact Kennedy's departure will have on the court — much greater than that of Scalia's.

Trump replaced Scalia with a conservative like Scalia. But he's unlikely to replace Kennedy with anyone like Kennedy, and the consequence will truly shift the court further to the right.

Kennedy has been the least-reliable conservative of the five judges appointed by Republican presidents.

He is often described as the swing vote. He alone has earned a reputation for siding with liberals on some decisions and conservatives on others. He is arguably the court's only true moderate.

Consider the cakes

Consider what his departure means for the little Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colo.

The Masterpiece Cakeshop is a bakery owned by self-described cake artist Jack Phillips. It comes up whenever a conversation turns to the tricky subject of religious freedom, same-sex marriage and wedding cakes.

Phillips's fans boast of his talents. "If you can think it up, he can make it into a cake," says the Masterpiece Cakeshop website. But Phillips draws the line at baking cakes for same-sex weddings and he believes Colorado's civil liberties laws should bow to the Bible on that score.

Among its many announcements yesterday, the Supreme Court said it will hear the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, giving Phillips his day in court. And that means he might have a chance to put a limit on what is, essentially, the legacy of one justice in particular: Anthony Kennedy.

Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips, shown here in a 2014 file photo, refused to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in Colorado. The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear that case, which asks the high court to balance the religious rights of the baker against the couple's right to equal treatment under the law. (Brennan Linsley/Associated Press)

It was Kennedy's votes and words that broke ground on the most important decisions invalidating discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the United States. He wrote for the majority in the case that legalized same-sex marriage.

His words are sometimes quoted in wedding vows:

"No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were."

With Kennedy out of the way and a new Trump-appointed judge in his place, Phillips and Masterpiece Cakeshop would probably move an enormous step closer to their goal of protecting a cake artist's right not to bake wedding cakes for same-sex couples.

Going 'nuclear' for Gorsuch

Any hope that Trump might nominate someone as moderate as Kennedy disappeared in all the Senate manoeuvring around Gorsuch's confirmation earlier this year.

The details are too tedious to rehash, but by trying to block the Gorsuch nomination, Democrats gave Republicans an excuse to eliminate the last incentive for a president to think of attracting bipartisan support for his nominee.

The way forward now is to bulldoze a nominee through the Senate confirmation vote and not bother to consider opinions from across the aisle on who that nominee should be.

It's a historic moment. For a couple of decades, the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative and liberal wings have become more distant from each other and entrenched in their judicial philosophies. But neither side has scored all the wins or suffered all the losses, thanks in large part to the swing vote of Justice Kennedy.

That will change shortly after Kennedy retires, if Trump is president.

Trump will turn the majority of the court hard right for generations to come, giving Republicans a reason to forgive a great many of his other sins.