Supreme Showdown: What you need to know to follow the fight over Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.

• Author: Smith, Patricia
• Position: NATIONAL

Expect to see plenty of fireworks this month in Washington. No, not at some patriotic celebration, but during Senate confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court nominations are always big news, but Americans are paying more attention to this one than they have to any other in decades. That's because the vacancy was created by retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has for years been the Court's swing vote between its conservative and liberal wings.

Most Democrats strongly oppose Kavanaugh, while most Republicans strongly support him. That means things could get ugly. Here's what you need to know to follow the debate.

1 Why is a Supreme Court appointment so important?

In short, because it can have such a lasting impact. A president serves a maximum of eight years--if he or she wins re-election. But the Supreme Court's nine justices serve for life or until they choose to retire. That means they continue to shape American society--by deciding whether or not the nation's laws are permitted under the Constitution--long after the presidents who appointed them have left office.

"The Supreme Court does have a really strong impact on the daily lives of all of us," says Sarah Binder, a Supreme Court expert at George Washington University. "Everything from whether the police can search your cellphone during a traffic stop, to which presidential candidate actually won the election, and everything in between can be decided by the Court."

2 What's involved in the confirmation process?

When a justice dies or resigns, the Constitution gives the president the authority to nominate a replacement. It's the job of the Senate to investigate the candidate's qualifications and then vote to confirm or reject the nominee.

First the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings in which Kavanaugh, a 53-year-old federal judge, will answer senators' questions. The committee will then vote on whether to send his nomination to the full Senate for a vote.

A simple majority among the 100 senators is all that's needed to confirm a nominee. Republicans hold 51 seats, so under current rules they could confirm Kavanaugh without any Democratic votes. (Democrats hold 47 seats, and two independents caucus with them.)

For many years, 60 yes votes were required for confirmation. In 2017, however, Senate Republicans changed the voting rules to facilitate the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch, President Trump's first Supreme Court nominee.

3 Why is this appointment getting so much attention?

It has a lot to do with who's being replaced. Justice Kennedy was long considered the swing vote on a Court split between four liberals and four conservatives. Experts expect that Kavanaugh would vote consistently with the conservatives--potentially shifting the Court's direction for decades to come.

"Because you're replacing the center, the whole Court will shift," says Lee Epstein, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

Another reason to expect drama is the lingering anger among Democrats over the fate of Merrick Garland, who was nominated in 2016 by President Obama to fill the vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. The Republican-led...