1.   And Democrats countered that Bush was using Pickering to test how far he can go in nominating a conservative to the next Supreme Court vacancy.

2.   A sister-in-law already booked the next vacancy.

3.   If the Democrats hold on to the White House, a flash point may loom in the coming years over the next vacancy on the Supreme Court.

4.   The whole exercise was meant to lay the foundation for a bloody ideological battle over the next Supreme Court vacancy.