"there is a very real possibility that court will actually move to the left"
Grade school nonsense.
Judge Roberts is Chief Justice Rehnquist's own man...a man of President Reagan and President Bush.
Likewise, replacing O'Connor with **anyone** will fail to move the Court to the Left, and an Owen, Estrada, Olsen, Pryor, or Judge Janice Rogers Brown would plant the Court firmly on the Right for decades to come.
Moreover, Justice Stevens is in his 90's and Justice Ginsberg is ill. President Bush could easily be making a total of 4 Supreme court placements in the next 3 years...all of whom will be further to the Right than Ginsberg, Stevens, and O'Connor.
So snap out of your needless worrying and whining about the Court moving to the Left. It's simply not in the cards.
Judge Roberts is Chief Justice Rehnquist's own man...a man of President Reagan and President Bush Did Rehnquist and Reagan every donate their time to assist gay rights activists?
There is no proof that Roberts would vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Many think he would consider it settled law.
You have no idea whether Roberts will be as conservative as Rehnquist. No one can know.
It's highly unlike that Brown, Owens, Estrada, Edith Hollan Jones or any verifiable originalist will be named nominated now that the new nominee is going to take O'Connor's seat. It's like to be someone like Edith Clement, someone with no paper trail that will be easy to confirm.
We're going to likely end up two maybes to replace one of the three conservative members of the court and moderate liberal. That quite possibly will result in the court moving to the left or, at best, remaining the same.