David Souter killed the Filibuster

[martybegan]

Interesting Op-ed on how the Nomination and Court Tenure of Souter led to our current angst over every single Supreme Court pick

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/12/opinion/david-souter-killed-the-filibuster.html

That opposition would look ironic in hindsight, since once on the bench Souter spent a brief time voting with the conservatives, then cast one of the crucial votes to uphold Roe, then swiftly evolved into as reliable a liberal as Bill Clinton or Barack Obama could have ever hoped to appoint … and then, as the by-then-inevitable coup de grâce, retired under Obama, allowing Sonia Sotomayor to take his place. For Republicans and conservatives, it was the most extraordinary of own goals — as if Obama had been persuaded by, say, Ben Nelson or Joe Lieberman to appoint a jurist who turned out to vote like Samuel Alito.

I think after that nomination by both sides will be as "safe" as possible, so republicans will nominate strict constructionists, and democrats will nominate living constitution types.