Another four years of Trump means the Supreme Court would likely shift to seven conservative and just two liberal justices, making Bernie Sanders’ movement just a blip in history.

President Trump, with much help from Senator Mitch McConnell, has effectively used his presidency to shift the nation’s court systems further to the right. Conservative judges have been appointed to the courts on a consistent basis, with virtually nothing standing in the way of this seemingly never-ending shift to the right.

While this has been taking place, the Democratic party has been debating on who should be the next nominee to take on Donald Trump in the 2020 election. As of this week, the answer is officially Joe Biden.

While the former Vice President’s ideologies are viewed as being very moderate, especially when compared to his greatest democratic opponent, Bernie Sanders, the reality is that Biden is now America’s last hope for a progressive American — at least anytime in the next 25–30 years.

If Bernie Sanders supporters sit at home on election day, refusing to vote for Joe Biden out of spite for the Democratic party, they will essentially be throwing in the towel for Bernie Sanders’ movement. Without Joe Biden becoming the next president, President Trump will likely replace two of the Supreme Court’s liberal justices with far right conservative alternatives.

There is a very strong possibility, if not probability, that both Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg (87 years old) and Stephen Breyer (81) will step down from the Supreme Court before 2025, meaning the next President will appoint their successors.

If Trump has the chance, he will surely replace both justices with far-right, socially and fiscally conservative judges who would, in all likelihood, stand in the way of many of Bernie Sanders’ key ideas. Surely, if given the chance, they would rule against laws enabling Medicare for all, free college tuition, housing for all, expanded social security, taxes on the super wealthy, and many women’s rights issues.

Remember, these judges are appointed for a lifetime, and the average age of an appointee is just 53 years old. This means we could have a highly lopsided conservative court for the next 30+ years. Also keep in mind that once the Supreme Court votes one way or the other, that vote sets a precedent for future rulings.

It’s an almost certainty that if Trump appoints two more conservative judges to the highest court in America, the progressive push that Bernie Sanders’ and his supporters have been lobbying for will, in all likelihood, come to a screeching and permanent for the foreseeable future.

On the other hand, if Bernie Sanders’ supporters jump onto Joe Biden’s bandwagon (even reluctantly), and help support the Democratic nominee become the next President of the United States, all of this doom and gloom would be thrown out of the window. Biden would likely replace the two liberal justices with 2 more liberal judges who would certainly be more open-minded to all of Bernie Sanders’ progressive ideas.

Biden doesn’t hold the same progressive ideas as Bernie Sanders, although he does seem to have come around to some of them as of late — recently supporting tuition free community college for most students.

A presidential term is just 4 years. Progress takes time, and a Joe Biden presidency is one step closer to realizing Bernie Sanders’ progressive ideologies — if not in the next 4 years, then soon thereafter. It gives the Sanders movement a chance to thrive, not just under Joe Biden, but quite possibly under every future President that this country will ever see.

Electing Trump, however, will simply put an unfortunate end to the amazing movement that Bernie Sanders has created. Don’t get me wrong, though. Progress will happen. It always has in America. Election day 2020 will be the determining factor in just how long it takes for this progress to take hold. Will it be within the next 5–10 years or will it take another entire generation?