Souter for Sotomayor: A Fair and Balanced Trade

There's not all that much to be upset with in President Obama nominating Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. While she is most likely a liberal leaning kinda gal, all she's doing is replacing a liberal leaning kinda dude, David Souter.

Appointed by President George H.W. Bush, it was assumed by all, including Bush, that Souter would be a conservative Supreme Court justice. At some point though, his New Hampshire independent streak started to shine through and he looked pretty liberal helping to uphold Roe v. Wade and voting to continue the recount in Bush v. Gore.

Conversely, the "liberal" Sotomayor has done decidedly un-liberal things on the Federal bench, such as upholding the Bush (George W. that is) administration rule of withholding funds from international health care groups that provide abortions.

So what we're getting here is a straight up trade really. What should concern conservatives is the next justice President Obama gets to choose. That one could make a real difference in how the Supreme Court rules.