I think there is a parallel to be made here with Giuliani. He has not shown, pre-campaign, that he cares much about judicial issues, and his record gives us some reason to be concerned about the kind of judges he would appoint. (I’m referring here to his tendency as mayor to go to court to get policies with which he agreed, using sometimes dubious legal arguments; his appointments as mayor; and his agnosticism with respect to Roe.) Having Ted Olson as his top legal advisor has gone a long way to reassuring conservatives about what kind of judges a President Giuliani would appoint. And it should have gone a long way, since there is no reason to think that Giuliani is deeply invested in getting the wrong kind of judges on the court. I don’t think Senator McCain is, either, notwithstanding his views on campaign finance, because I don’t think, as I said, that he thinks about the relationship between judicial nominees and campaign-finance reform that way. And so it would be similarly reassuring if he had an Olson of his own. (Maybe Olson himself! McCain can say he’ll consult with him as president regardless of Olson’s decision to back another candidate in the primary.)