If George W. Bush is re-elected and the seats of Justices O’Connor and Stevens open on the Supreme Court, constitutional decrees in pivotal areas concerning presidential war powers, church-state relations, freedom of speech, the death penalty, the powers of the police and prosecutors, racial, ethnic and gender discrimination and private property will display a markedly more conservative hue consistent with the judicial role envisioned by the Founding Fathers. And that judicial modesty should persist indefinitely.

Electing the Supreme Court