I like your take, but look at what you said...not dependable.
Somebody earlier had this picture of Hillary and said something like at least she wasn’t making the pick. We have been burned since the 1950’s on these nominations by Republicans. The stupid party is just that. Using their logic, I should have celebrated a pick not being made by Dukakis, when Bush picked Souter, who might has well have been picked by Dukakis. I’ve been here way too many times.
Well, there are reasons to believe he’ll be significantly more conservative than Souter. He’s already written 300 opinions on a federal court bench. Souter had significantly less experience on a federal court and had written very little on controversial issues prior to his appointment. Bush, Sr. relied on Sununu vouching for his conservative bona fides, which it turns out he didn’t really have.
With Kavanaugh we actually have him writing things in opinions and saying things in speeches and articles that indicate he has a conservative/restrained judicial philosophy. Even if doesn’t overturn Roe, I still think he’ll be much more reluctant to legislate from the bench than a Hillary appointee. I think we could have done better, but there is no reason at this point to think that overall he will be a moderate or liberal. And he was vetted by the very conservative Federalist Society.