Consider this post dedicated to you, Ogged: http://ezraklein.typepad.com/blog/2005/07/sandra_day_ocon.html
Maybe it doesn't need to be said that she (and the other four conservative discussions) disgraced themselves, the court, and the country with Bush v. Gore, but I'm going to say it anyway.
They banned a reliable vote count in order that their favored candidate would be guaranteed to win the election, even though he'd lost the popular vote. On equal protection grounds that don't pass the fucking laugh test. So weak they said that the ruling didn't apply to anything else. That's why we've had all these problems. Remember that.
Excellent, Ezra!
Matt, sure, but that's just what I mean: it's worth taking a moment to set all that aside and note that her story is remarkable.
OK, sure. But it seems to me that when we talk about her as a 'moderate' and wonder who will replace her, we're already setting it aside in a way that it shouldn't be. (When I put that up I hadn't seen e.g. Digby's similar comment and some other things that rant about the same topic.)