We don't need a "strong pro-lifer" on the bench. We need a strong Constitutionalist who will allow voters of states to decide for themselves. We don't know whether this this pick is a strong Constitutionalist. Maybe she is; however, if she isn't, then Bush has just shown himself to be a man who has buckled under the pressure of the mainstream media and the minority party. That would be so sad.
Usually litigators do not become strong constitutionalists or even strong originalists. Like liberals, litigators are seeking a particular result from the law. Meirs has mostly been a litigator. I see her as as an O'Conner redux, and clearly as if Bush has allowed the politics of the moment to think (wrongly) an "O'Conner type" was where he had to go. My fear is that this might take too much wind out of conservative GOP sails in 2006.