Yeah, like...say...those who voted in Bush's favor in Bush V. Gore...uh huh...

What in the great green hell does this mean?????

Presuming Obama doesn’t appoint a Lani Guinier type, which would be out of character, my guess is that this proves no more contentious than, say, the Alito confirmation.

You may well be right in regards to the actual senate republicans but I'll be amazed if the prolifers don't pull out all the stops for this and every other liberal retirement. All they need is one more anti-roe vote by their reckoning... and they've wanted it so bad for so long...

As far as Bork, he's an originalist which means he's either a hypocrite or an idiot, depending on whether he makes such claims honestly.

Although its very possible I should be embracing the power of and.

Right... wouldn't want anyone who understood or respected the constitution!

Yeah, like...say...those who voted in Bush's favor in Bush V. Gore...uh huh...

So, what are the odds of getting another Scalia?

More likely to nominate a Soros, I'd say.

I'd say the two are equally likely.

So, what are the odds of getting another Scalia?

More likely to nominate a Soros, I'd say.

The Republicans can "insist" on ejecting Specter from his seat, but that will require a reorganization of the Senate, which will cause Al Franken to be seated. Therefore it's a bit of a catch 22 for the GOP.

I'd not worry about all that much. There's already enough very vocal democrat party embers annoyed with Specter's bypassing them in Democrat Seinority. My guess is that won't settle down for a while at least.

Resolved, That the following be the minority membership on the following committees for the remainder of the 111th Congress, or until their successors are appointed:

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY: Mr. Specter, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Kyl, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Graham, Mr. Cornyn, and Mr. Coburn

Specter is named as a member of the minority party and an organizing resolution has to pass through a majority vote for Specter to be removed from the Committee and replaced as he is still a Senator and not dead, expelled or resigned.

So if most judges are left to their own devices and allowed do whatever they want and if they're worried about how they will be viewed, they will often shift left...interesting...

We could do worse, and probably will!

Indeed! I'm sure Robert Bork is still available...

James --- are you sure that William Jacobson is right? As I understand it, Specter is still the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary committee with all of the staff and administrative powers that implies because the Senate has not been reorganized. As I understand it, for purposes of organization on committee seats, Specter still counts as a Republican until the Senate passes another organizing resolution.

I'm not absolutely sure, since Senate rules can be arcane. But I can't imagine the Republicans wouldn't insist on ousting him as Ranking Member.

...but Souter wound up substantially to the left of where he was expected to be. They often do.

Lawrence Tribe was on TV this morning claiming that he knew, and anybody familiar with Souter's background knew, that Souter would be a moderate to liberal justice. And that Team Bush simply hadn't done their homework and outsourced the matter to Sununu.

Aside from a probable degree of self-promotion on Tribe's part, I suspect that is true.