Terence Jeffrey writes in Townhall Will a Republican president ever again name a non-stealth conservative to the U.S. Supreme Court? Or will liberal Democrats succeed in imposing not one, but two litmus tests on Supreme Court nominations? The first prospective litmus test is that Democratic presidents, deferring to the liberal base of the Democratic Party, will name only publicly pro-abortion justices to the Supreme Court. The second prospective litmus test is that Republican presidents, preferring to avoid a major political brawl with the liberal base of the Democratic Party (and their allies in the liberal media), will name only stealth nominees.
The answer to the first point is to threaten that if there ever is another Democratic President, the Republicans in the Senate need to give him (or her) just as much static (including filibusters) that the Dems have done to Bush, and they need to say that once that President is out of office, they will conside the books balanced, and they are willing to go back to being civil in the future, if the Dems will also be civil.If these two litmus tests are institutionalized, the liberal base of the Democratic Party will retain significant influence over the nomination of Supreme Court justices no matter which party controls the White House and no matter which party controls the Senate.
The answer to the second point depends on how much spine GWB has.
That will be the case unless the Republicans make it clear that they can give just as well as take.
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