In my last piece I suggested a reason as to why we those of us on both sides of the abortion debate should put those differences to the side for now, unite behind a consensus moderate justice who will not overturn judicial precedents, and reject a justice who shares Justice Antonin Scalia's constitutional jurisprudence.
I don't believe President George W. Bush will pick any moderates and I don't think any Republicans will break ranks and bar an up or down vote on the nominees but there is a slight, (and I do mean slight) chance that enough Republicans will break ranks and vote against a conservative extremist.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) said the president should appoint a moderate to preserve the balance on the Court and according to this article
, Senators Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have also said they wanted someone "strike a balance."
I don't know if he was speaking seriously but Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) said Fred Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee, actor, and consultant on the president's judicial nominations" would make a good candidate on Jay's Leno's "The Tonight Show."
The key question of course, is if there are enough independent minded Republicans willing to break from the president to offset any Democratic defections (Robert Byrd - W. Virginia, Mark Pryor - Arkansas, and especially Ben Nelson - Nebraska).
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