WHY FIGHT IF WE WIN?:

Republicans in Senate Lower Expectations of a Court Fight (NEIL A. LEWIS, 5/18/09, NY Times)

While there is growing anticipation that the summer will bring the spectacle of a pitched Supreme Court confirmation battle, some Senate Republicans are lowering expectations that they are planning any major political fight. [...]

Some of the senior Republican Senate officials said there was a widespread understanding that the conservative groups would use the occasion of a Supreme Court nominee by a Democratic president as an issue both to rally supporters and to raise political donations, much as liberal groups did with Republican court nominees.

“We’re not lowering expectations as much as setting them realistically,” one aide said. “They have their own agendas as well,” the aide added, referring to the use by outside groups of a Supreme Court nomination to fire up supporters. Republican officials all said that they expected Mr. Obama’s nominee to be a supporter of abortion rights and that that fact by itself would not be an obstacle to confirmation.

If the UR's pick is as cautious as early reports suggest it may be the GOP should praise him and keep their powder dry.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 17, 2009 12:00 PM