The same NYTimes article referred to below has the following observation from former Solicitor General Walter Dellinger:
"This term suggested a split between two kinds of conservative Republicans. (Justices Kennedy and O'Connor) share the sensibilities of corporate Republicans, who often have a bit of a libertarian streak in them, (while on social issues) Scalia and Thomas represent the Moral Majority strain, which is vocal but not necessarily dominant."
"Chief Justice Rehnquist, Dellinger adds, often occupies a middle position between the two groups."
If this analysis is accurate - and I think it is - then how would you classify the four remaining justices on the court? Might we say that Justices Breyer, Ginsburg and Souter represent the "corporate Democrats," while Justice Stevens occupies a middle position between this group and the now vacant far left position once filled by Justices Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan.
This means that we currently have a court that is lopsided to the right. However, social conservatives who still lose out on their pet issues in this case might disagree.
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