Republicans controlled the SC well before this. There are only two justices on the court that were appointed by demos--Breyer and Ginsburg. Stevens was appointed by Ford, Souter and Thomas by Bush I, Kennedy and Scalia by Reagan, Roberts and Alito by Bush II. Souter and Stevens were absolutely huge disappointments, and Kennedy is pretty moderate, as well. Stevens is 85, and will probably die before he retires. Many predict Bush II will have an opportunity to appoint another SC justice before his term expires, but I don't see it. Stevens is still in decent health despite his age, and with his judicial philosophy, will likely hang on for as long as he can rather than giving Bush II an opportunity to replace him. The overall makeup of the court has not shifted very much--there are still four libs (Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg and Breyer), four conservatives (Scalia, Thomas, Roberts and Alito) and one moderate (Kennedy). Kennedy has consistently ruled in favor of many restrictions on abortion (parental notification, late term abortions and partial birth abortions) but has also consistently voted against Roe v Wade type challenges. Age wise, conservatives are in good shape. And three of the four liberal judges are also relatively young. But should conservatives lose the Presidential election in ’08, they will also lose an opportunity to replace Stevens with a conservative judge, which would be a dramatic shifting in the court’s philosophical makeup.

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