Cynical Nation

Here's another reason why liberals shouldn't freak out over Bush's Supreme Court appointment(s). Republicans are very good at certain things (although I'm not sure what they are), but placing conservative justices on the High Court is decidedly not one of them.

Going back to Nixon, Republican presidents have placed nine justices on the Supreme Court. Of these, no more than three (Thomas, Rehnquist and Scalia) can be said to be doctrinaire conservatives in their judicial philosophy. That's a pretty piss-poor batting average. Historically, in fact, Republicans are just as likely to appoint principled liberals as principled conservatives. I would throw Stevens, Blackmun and Souter all in that category, with the remainder (Powell, Kennedy and O'Connor) being squishy moderates.