How Samuel Alito would push the Court even further right than William Rehnquist. We already know some of the dynamics of President Bush’s nomination of Judge Samuel Alito: the president’s low approval ratings, driven lower by defections from his base during the Harriet Miers episode, and his need to recapture some political ground by shifting attention from corruption and incompetence to a Supreme Court nominee who can’t be challenged as an incompetent crony. One element in the political dynamics, though, may have been overlooked. The president is taking advantage of what might be merely a moment of unified government to...