It’s possible Byrnes only changed ideologically due to the SC electorate, but it still could’ve happened had he remained on the court. I think the explicit targeting by the courts of the South in cases would definitely have pushed him that way.
Catholic Sen. Joe McCarthy recognized that fake Catholic Brennan was no Conservative at all when he was up for confirmation and waged a one-man war against him. Once again proving McCarthy was one of the smartest, patriotic and prescient members of the U.S. Senate.
Interesting McCarthy was the lone “HELL NO” vote on Brennan when everyone else in the GOP was applauding the pick (shades of my own lonely one-man anti-Gorsuch campaign on here). I’m particularly surprised because that happened in the 50s, even by 1986, Scalia was confirmed with zero opposition from the RATS. Today, they would have all reflexively voted against him simply for the fact he had an “R” next to his name.
To his credit, I think Ike realized the damage he did with both Earl Warren AND William J. Brennan. I think a reporter asked him later if he ever made any mistakes as president, and he replied “I made two huge mistakes, and they’re sitting on the Supreme Court right now”