The GOP track record on Supreme Court justices is pretty miserable for a supposedly conservative party. Here are all the GOP appointees since Eisenhower:
JUSTICE WARREN: A flaming left-winger.
JUSTICE WHITTAKER: Didn't serve long. Generally a "don't rock the boat" type.
JUSTICE HARLAN: Pretty good on criminal law, but fully concurred with the cultural leftist block on the court.
JUSTICE BRENNAN; A flaming left-winger.
JUSTICE STEWART: Left-wing about 65% of the time.
JUSTICE REHNQUIST: A very good judge.
JUSTICE POWELL: Lest-wing about 60% of the time.
JUSTICE BLACKMUN: A flaming left-winger.
JUSTICE BURGER: Tough on crime, wishy-washy on other things.
JUSTICE STEVENS: A flaming left-winger.
JUSTICE O'CONNOR: Wishy-washy, growing increasingly leftist as the years passed.
JUSTICE SCALIA: EXCELLENT!!!!
JUSTICE KENNEDY: Wishy-washy. Can be good sometimes, but also panders to the left on key issues (upheld Roe; found an imaginary sodomy right)
JUSTICE THOMAS: EXCELLENT!!!!
JUSTICE SOUTER: A flaming left-winger.
So given this overall poor record, it's easy to see why the GOP base worries when we get a stealth nominee. Only three truly good judges have been appointed by Republicans in the past 50 years, and those three had very well established credentials as constitutionalists beforehand. The ones with little or no track record have ranged from wishy-washy to horrible,
I maintain that if a Senate "Maverick" is happy, then we've been screwed.
You better NOT question this nominee, you damn vigilante!!!
/s
My guess is a middle of the road type. GW doesn't have it to bring on a true conservative. Thus my prediction that when he leaves the SC will not be changed.
And, with 55 Republicans in the Senate, there are no more excuses left for Bush and the Republicans not keeping their promise to appoint Scalia-like originalists. If they don't keep their promise this time, I can only imagine a loss of millions of voters.
"JUSTICE THOMAS: EXCELLENT!!!!"
You gotta be kidding me.