Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

Yeah, I can see that too.  Given Bush’s appointments and his questionable approach to the Constitution, it’s not likely going to help McCain.

I haven’t heard him talk too much about the Supreme Court, but McCain would be smart to invoke sensible nominees like Souter and stay away from discussing the Bush radicals.

Judges are one of the few areas where the Democratic Congress has consistently pushed back against Republican presidents over the past 25 years. It’s hard to see McCain having much more success than Bush has had, and he seems less committed than Bush to placating social conservatives with judicial appointments.  So I’m not sure how much difference there would really be between McCain and Obama in terms of who actually makes it onto the bench.

"So I’m not sure how much difference there would really be between McCain and Obama in terms of who actually makes it onto the bench.”

There’s a scary thought.  It may well be that McCain would not try to get another Alito on the court or that he would fail if he tried.  But he surely could and would get another Kennedy on the court.  That’s not optimum by my way of thinking, but it beats another Ginsburg.

I actually trust Obama more on judges.  He was a con law professor (ok, adjunct, but still) at the University of Chicago, and he was actually a practicing lawyer, so he should have some actual insight into what would make a good judge.

You’re willing to embark on what even you have called a war of choice, a war that’s been costing us about a billion a week for years now, thousands of soldiers dead and many more thousands wounded in return for the possibility of one, maybe two supreme court appointments?

I never gamble, but I’d actually be willing to put some money on this proposition:  If elected, and a supreme court vacancy occurs, McCain nominates someone touted by the theocon wing of the party, but doesn’t have him well vetted.  When the confirmation blows up, he sends up a woman from Arizona.