The impact is that it really gives attorneys an avenue to raise new types of challenges to federal statutes that wouldn't have been considered 15-20 years ago.

He took the fight out of the opposition.

Circulating names on a short list creates a pre-vetting process, so they can at least know what to expect,

The issue has never been most qualified, the issue is qualified.

There was one person who kind of stood up and was willing to test the standard and it didn't work out well for him. And thus the lesson was learned for all future nominees, and I suspect for John Roberts as well.

They've essentially wrapped up their work narrowing a list of replacements and are just waiting quietly for a vacancy.

This is one of the few ways even a weak president can make his mark especially when his party controls the Senate.

The Bush administration has done a great job in reviewing the candidates, going through their opinions, backgrounds, and speeches,

Are you a Scalia Catholic, a Brennan Catholic or a Kennedy Catholic?

There are issues we have never dealt with before,