Appointments with Destiny

What kind of Supreme Court appointments can we expect, and how will the debates be shaping up, given the expected resignation of Chief Justice Renquist? Josh Marshall's opinion that Bush can't push through two really awful nominees in the same season seems plausible to me:

Perhaps another way to put this is that I think it would be much easier for President Bush to push through one hard-right nominee now and another next spring or next summer than it will be for him to push twice at once.

Steve Clemons believes that John Bolton (remember him?) may never get to the UN because of the looming fights on the horizon:

There are now so many complicating factors building that the White House can ill afford to allow this nomination-ulcer to keep bleeding.
The White House must deal with Karl Rove's complicity in the Valerie Plame outing. This issue could easily backfire on President Bush who -- at the time -- demanded to know who the villain among his staff was who would compromise American national security by this petty and vindictive exposure of Plame's CIA identity.

All in all, I think the Democrats in Congress have done a pretty good job of standing up against the more extreme policies and nominees coming from the White House and are in a stronger position today than they were six months ago.