Jeffrey Toobin, writing in the New Yorker, explains why 2008 will determine not just our President and congressional officials, but the future of the Supreme Court for the next several decades.

He examines the rulings in the first full term in which Justices Alito and Roberts participated. He notes that the conservative controversial opinions were decided by votes of 5 to 4. And that Justice Stevens is 87 years old and Ruth Gader Ginsberg is 74. But Alito and Roberts are only in their 50's.

Since Souter and Kennedy, all appointed Justices -- Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer, Roberts, and Alito —- have fulfilled the agenda of the Presidents who appointed them. No surprises.

I agree with Toobin who concludes his excellent article with:

At this moment, the liberals face not only jurisprudential but actuarial peril. Stevens is eighty-seven and Ginsburg seventy-four; Roberts, Thomas, and Alito are in their fifties. The Court, no less than the Presidency, will be on the ballot next November, and a wise electorate will vote accordingly.