SCOTUS justices nominated by Republican presidents are more likely to legislate from the bench

In a July 6 article in The New York Times, Yale law professor Paul Gewirtz analyzed each of the 64 U.S. Supreme Court decisions since 1994 wherein the court overturned or upheld laws passed by Congress. Which justices were most likely to overrule the democratically elected U.S. Congress? Clarence Thomas (65 percent), Anthony Kennedy (64 percent) and Antonin Scalia (56 percent) --- all "conservative" justices in the mold of President Bush's nominee Samuel Alito. Which justices were least likely to second-guess Congress? Ruth Bader Ginsberg (39 percent) and Stephen Breyer (28 percent) --- both appointed by President Clinton.

Spare us the nonsense about which judicial philosophy is less likely to supplant its views for those of our democratically elected representatives. The right-wing outrage over Harriet Miers' nomination and the subsequent celebration over Alito's are about one thing: obtaining predictable results favorable to conservatives.