The 'Supreme' fight ahead

Barone nails it to the wall: Namely, this abortion business is entirely aside from the point. Stare Decisis ensures Roe V. Wade will stand. If it were somehow overturned, the States would uphold it. But what about all the other vital issues? What about federalism?!........T
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement seems sure to lead to a brutal political battle over the confirmation of her replacement. There is no indication that George W. Bush intends to nominate someone who appeared on a recent list of nominees acceptable to Senate Democrats. This would be to cede the appointing power from the president and the Senate majority to a minority in the Senate.

abortion is one of those issues that divides the electorate along cultural lines into nearly equal Democratic and Republican blocs. It is of great symbolic importance to groups on both sides, and not for trivial reasons. But a brutal battle over abortion -- which is what this battle is going to be about for most voters -- is an argument over an issue that is largely moot. Other issues that exercise legal scholars -- over federalism, for example -- are totally unfamiliar to almost all voters.