ANY justice at this point could have a perfect record of conservatism and could still be a Souter or a Kennedy.
honestly, I would rather NOT have someone who appears to be a sure thing, mainly because I REALLY don't have any faith in ANY human being as a sure fire (fill in the blank here) and to be consistent.
If the man was JUST doing his job in this case, and I believe he was and there is no indication of anything else, then this is a lot of noise for no reason.