HE'LL HAVE MOVED THE COURT FURTHER RIGHT THAN REAGAN OR BUSH I DID:

Get Ready for a More Conservative Supreme Court (Ruth Marcus, 4/11/10, TruthDig)

[I]t’s entirely possible that a more conservative court could be Obama’s paradoxical legacy—particularly if he serves only a single term. The likelihood of the court shifting to the right is greater than that of its moving leftward.

In part, this could have been predicted even before Obama took office. It reflects less about him than it does the identity of the departing justices, one liberal followed by another. The next oldest justice is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 77. Conservatives are reaping the benefits of Bush father and son having selected justices who were relatively young. Justice Clarence Thomas was 43 when tapped, Chief Justice John Roberts was 50, and Justice Samuel Alito was 55.

It would likely only be in the case of a departure by 74-year-old Justice Antonin Scalia—not likely to occur voluntarily during Obama’s presidency—or Justice Anthony Kennedy, 73, that the president would have an opportunity to dramatically alter the court’s ideological makeup.

But there’s little in Obama’s record as president to suggest that he would expend enormous capital to secure the most liberal possible justice. From the point of view of liberal groups, Obama’s nominees to the lower federal courts have been, overall, disappointingly moderate.