Everyone knows that George W. Bush is going to appoint a conservative (or two) to the Supreme Court.
The question is, what's a conservative?
Is it, for instance, someone who wants to let you, the individual, make as many decisions free of government encumbrance as possible? Or is it someone who wants to make sure that the decisions you make conform to traditional values?
That dilemma always dogs the Republican party to some extent.
"The traditional distinction is between social conservatives and economic ones," says James Gimpel, a political scientist at the University of Maryland, College Park. "The economic ones emphasize markets and limited government. The social ones emphasize morality."
At election time, those differences usually get papered over by candidates who take socially conservative positions - say, against abortion rights - and keep economic conservatives happy by favoring tax cuts and similar positions, fudging more problematic issues like immigration policy and relations with China.
But it gets a bit more complex with a Supreme Court justice.
"It's a balancing act that emerges its ugly head at times like this," says Melissa Deckman, a political scientist at Washington College in Chestertown. "In an election campaign, it's very easy for Bush to combine appeals to social conservatives who come out to vote in droves with stances that traditionally are of interest to the business community.
"But when you are dealing with a lifelong appointment to the federal bench, especially the Supreme Court, the differences among these groups begin to come to light," she says.
As Thomas Keck, a political scientist at Syracuse University says, "There are a variety of different types of judicial conservatives. The big choice president Bush is faced with is which kind to choose, or not choose.
"The way most of the coverage puts it is in terms of a conservative or a moderate," he says. "That tells you a little bit, but the more specific question is what kind of conservative does he pick?"
Religion and politics
Deckman has studied the effect of religion on politics in recent years, especially the religious right.
"When I think about the word `conservative,' I think of the demand from the religious conservatives," she says. "That would mean judges willing to think about turning over Roe v. Wade, putting a stop to gay marriage, exactly what the religious conservatives are looking for."
