Anyone watching the deeply troubled, and troubling, confirmation process for Justice Kavanaugh surely understands the depth of anger on the left, which is unlikely to dissipate anytime soon. If the country moves left in the next few years, as the court moves right, we have the makings for a serious collision.

Justice Kavanaugh replaces Justice Anthony Kennedy, long the swing vote on the court. Justice Kennedy was a conservative, but he voted with the liberal wing of the court on some issues that typically split the right and the left. Justice Kavanaugh is not likely to follow suit. Based on a study of his record as an appeals court judge, three political scientists argue that he is likely to be almost as conservative as Justice Clarence Thomas, on the court’s far, far right.

The future direction of the country is, of course, harder to predict, but there are signs that despite Donald Trump’s victory in 2016 , the country is indeed moving left, as reflected in his loss of the popular vote. The political scientist James Stimson’s national “mood” thermometer shows a swing to the left since 2012. Polling on issues from the economy to immigration to same-sex marriage supports this view; surveys show, for example, that a solid majority of Americans support legal abortion under any or some circumstances , and very much oppose overturning Roe v. Wade.

Some progressives already have suggested that as soon as the Democrats can win back the White House and Congress, they should add seats to the court to turn it to the left. But there are other ways of getting the court’s attention as well. In the past, Congress has brought impeachment charges against justices, stripped the court of jurisdiction to hear particular cases, changed the size of the court to ensure favorable majorities, and even frozen the justices’ salaries out of spite.

What seems clear is that any future attack from the left will include claims that the court’s current majority is illegitimate. Democrats argue that a seat was stolen when the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, refused to consider President Barack Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland and held the seat open for 10 months, until Donald Trump was inaugurated . What’s more, they note, the country was denied access to Mr. Kavanaugh’s full record as an aide to President George W. Bush, limiting the ability to question him during the confirmation hearings. Then there was the truncated investigation into allegations of sexual assault years ago. Throughout it all, serious voices argued Justice Kavanaugh was (at best) not being fully candid in his answers.