Responding to my–hypothetical, I again remind you!–scenario of four vacancies on the Court, a reader writes: “If there are four vacancies, I daresay most conservatives would not even complain about Gonzales being put on the court, assuming that the other three slots were filled by judges who are suitably conservative.”

I’d add: Or if Gonzales were the fourth in a row. Assuming the retirees were O’Connor, Rehnquist, Stevens, and Ginsburg, you’d have a conservative majority. And I suspect that Gonzales would be alright in a conservative-majority environment. Nothing in his career makes me think he has any interest in spending his days as a liberal dissenter.