Souter To Retire

I assume you’ve heard. Not sure I understand why the NYT thinks that replacing Souter “could prove a test of Mr. Obama’s plans for reshaping the nation’s judiciary.” The swing vote on the court will still be Justice Kennedy no matter who Obama picks. Obama will pick someone, and Republicans will either throw an embarrassing and pointless tantrum before losing or else they’ll calmly accept that it makes no sense for a small and unpopular minority to object to the replacement of one liberal by another.