WASHINGTON — If Congress confirms President Trump’s nominee to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court would become more conservative, and also perhaps more ready to tackle certain hot-button issues like abortion and guns. Chief Justice John Roberts would also likely become less able to steer the outcome in divisive cases.

Ginsburg, who died Sept. 18 at 87, was the leader of the liberal wing of the court, which had been split 5-4 between conservatives and liberals. Roberts had, on occasion, sided with the liberals. But if Trump fills Ginsburg’s seat, there will be six conservative justices, three of them appointed by him.

Here are several big issues that are poised to come before the justices where a more solidly conservative majority could make a difference:

HEALTHCARE

A week after the presidential election, the court will hear arguments in bid by the Trump administration and Republican-led states to overturn the Obama-era health care law. In the midst of the pandemic, coverage for more than 20 million people is at stake, along with the law’s ban on insurance discrimination against Americans with pre-existing medical conditions. Now that former President Barack Obama’s landmark law is more than 10 years old, its many provisions are fully baked into the health care system. Unwinding it would be a colossal undertaking, fraught with political risks.

ABORTION

Abortion rights advocates would seem to face insurmountable odds winning at the Supreme Court without Ginsburg.

Earlier this year, a divided Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law regulating abortion clinics, reasserting a commitment to abortion rights. It was the first big abortion case of Trump’s presidency.

The 5-4 outcome turned on the vote of Roberts, who joined his four more liberal colleagues. The court addressed a law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. The justices ruled that the law violates the rights established by Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established a nationwide right to abortion.

But Roberts’ vote had to do with following court precedent rather than support for abortion rights. If a Trump nominee replaces Ginsburg, Roberts’ vote on the issue would likely become less decisive.

GUNS

The Supreme Court has for years been reluctant to take on new guns cases, but that could change under a more conservative court.

Last year the Supreme Court took on its first major gun rights case in nearly a decade. But the case ended with the justices sidestepping any major decision. Three members of the court dissented, however, expressing concern that lower federal courts are not properly applying the court’s two big gun rights decisions from 2008 and 2010.