Despite some very good judicial appointments during his tenure, there is this, as a smart reader writes in an e-mail:

I can’t believe people are really rending their garments over how much benefit of the doubt we should be giving Bush. Why are any of us convinced that he is even that judicially conservative himself? He has shown little desire to stand up Congress or the Courts when it comes to issues on which both the other branches have over-stepped their constitutional limits. He signed McCain-Feingold while admitting that it was unconstitutional. It is a per se dereliction of constitutional duty for the President to sign a law that he believes violates the Constitution. And then there is affirmative action…He applauded the Michigan cases that are among the most appalling and disappointing decisions in some time. So let’s everybody cool off in the righteous outrage at NR’s perfectly reasonable worries over the fact that Bush is clearly no Harlan himself