in light of the O’Connor resignation, that building represents the next battlefront in the ongoing W vs the liberals war.  the NYTimes Editorial Board weighs in their Editorial Page on Saturday [ here ].  my excerpt below: 

She was sometimes called the most powerful person in America. That seems like a huge overbilling for a woman who toiled at legal writing in a modest office with a small staff, and whose vote was only one of nine. But on issue after crucial issue, it was her swing vote that decided what kind of nation America would be. Justice O’Connor’s America is one that hews to conservative principles, but it is tempered by a compassion for individuals and an unwillingness to follow ideology blindly to unreasonable places.

When Justice O’Connor joined the court 24 years ago, there was no way of knowing how sorely she would be missed when she left. We are, in fact, beginning to miss her already as we envision the bitter confirmation battle that will take place if President Bush nominates a hard-line conservative to replace her. Senate Democrats, who have been willing to block ideologues nominated to the lower courts, will certainly do everything they can to prevent a right-wing ideologue from joining the nation’s highest court.

Before that fight begins, Mr. Bush should ask himself whether Americans want to live in a country where the handicapped cannot find a champion in the law, where women are stripped of all abortion rights, where universities are barred from offering a hand up to deserving minority students. Then he should ask himself how much of his own party’s current success has been due to Justice O’Connor’s ability to save the right wing from the worst consequences of its extremism.

If he is thinking clearly, the president will understand how much he owes this quiet jurist who consistently looked for common ground. Perhaps he will also realize that the best way to repay the debt is to choose a replacement from the same mold.