This is a tough situation.
With McCain, he recently said he’s against activist judges, and wants to appoint judges such as Roberts and Alito.
With Obama or Hillary, we know that Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the template they will follow. At least with McCain, there’s hope of conservative judges being appointed.
John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg will probably retire in the next four years. I’ve heard too that Souter may retire, though he’s not as old as the other two. Imagine the difference on the Supreme Court if we see three ultra-liberals appointed to replace these 3 liberals, vs. 3 more conservative judges, even if not as conservative as we might like.
And if one could safely go on what MacCain says (vs. what he's actually done in the past), we'd be safe. But if you want to know how a person will behave in the future study his past. So, once he's elected, he'll "grow" in office and nominate judges that'll make Kennedy proud.
I hear ya, it is the proverbial sticky wicket.. and we get stuck in the end for years with justices.
I wish I could believe McCain, I really do, but he comes from a breed of politicians I wouldn’t trust any further than I could toss ‘em.
Would the judges nominated be left of Alito and well left of Roberts, I would suspect so.. allowing hope to determine one’s vote is a precarious choice tho.. one needs to look at past performance and results.
We could end up with even more “campaign finance reform”, sanctioned by the judges and signed off by the President (again) than we have at present, regardless how many Ultralibs are in the picture either way.
I wish it was a slamdunk as some would hope.. X41 comes to mind however..
All McCain (or any president) can do is nominate. Still needs senate confirmation.