[Steve_Seattle]

"Populist conservative (think O'Connor/Kennedy)"

I don't think "populist" is the right word. Something like "gutless" would be better. These two are generally conservative, but on high-profile cases like abortion and affirmative action, they go soft; looking over their shoulder for media approval, they are unwilling to rock the boat even when their legal philosophy tells them to rock. That's why some of O'Connor's opinions were so strange and convoluted and illogical; for the sake of image, she was voting against her own basic philosophy.

[steveegg]

That's a bit more direct, but methinks you just fleshed out the meaning. Those who are conservative because they believe it to be "popular" tend to turn leftward when the only group left to please is the Washington insiders, while those who are so because that is how the Constitution is written tend to remain so.