[Mo1]

Ummm. Debbie ... Alito is NOT replacing O'Connor

[Not A Snowbird]

They forget that, don't they? He's replacing Rhenquist.

[Wolfstar]

Reliably conservative:
Chief Justice William Rehnquist
Justice Antonin Scalia
Justice Clarence Thomas

Swing (= unpredictable) votes:
Justice Anthony Kennedy
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

Reliably liberal:
Justice Stephen Breyer
Justice John Paul Stevens
Justice David Souter
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg

Too soon to tell:
Chief Justice John Roberts (replaced Rehnquist)
Soon-to-be Justice Samuel Alito (will replace O'Connor)

As the above shows, if Roberts and Alito prove to be reliable conservative votes, we have a 4-4 court with one swing vote, an improvement on the 3-4 Rehnquist court with two swing votes, but not a slam dunk for conservative issues.

For those who view the court not in terms of liberal vs. conservative, but in terms of small vs. big government tendencies, nothing in the new court makeup suggests it will begin to roll back the excesses of federal growth and misuse of the Commerce clause we've seen since at least the 1930's.