(06-27-2018 05:32 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Because back in 2016, not everyone was truly convinced Trump was conservative. He was a democrat not too long ago.

If you read my comment, I said I no longer expect him to nominate a moderate.

But it wasn't that long ago when presidents tended to replace justices with fairly similar folks of the same ilk. Obama replaced Souter with Sotomayor, and Stevens with Kagan. Neither nominee shook up the court's balance all that much. If Kennedy had retired 12 years ago say under Bush, he probably would have been replaced with another moderate.

Sotomayor is almost as far left as Ginsburg. Souter was only slightly to the left of Kennedy. W. would have tried to appoint another Roberts/Alito.

Trump needs to appoint someone like Gorsuch because Thomas is likely the next to retire. Ginsburg will insist on dying in office.