Danny DeVitto and Mickey Rooney.

The next President will indeed have a huge impact on the composition of the Federal Court system. Generally speaking, McCain has claimed that he favors justices that will defer to the elected branches of government. Obama on the other hand has stated the opposite; he wants the courts to act as a check against the "majoritarian impulses" of the other two branches of government. Another conservative appointment to the court might be enough to push for the repeal of Roe vs. Wade, while another liberal appointment might allow the court to begin exploring a new ban on the death penalty. We are really at a crossroads here with regards to the composition of the courts.

If the Democrats make significant gains in the Senate (which they most likely will) and if Obama is elected, the courts will likely become more liberal in orientation. The Senate will be free to pass all of Obama's appoints to SCOTUS and the Appeals courts will little opposition. Expect the retirements of liberal justices like Ruth Bader Ginsberg and John Paul Stevens within the first year of an Obama presidency, as they've been essentially waiting for a Democrat to be elected to guarantee a successor of similar ideological bent. Obama will likely make strong appointments to the courts, given his extensive experience as a Constitutional Law professor. Indeed, that experience as a professor of law makes him eligible for appointment to the Supreme Court himself.

There has been a shift in the appointments process in the Senate. 15 or 20 years ago, we had Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Antonin Scalia, two justices with strong ideological inclinations, sail through their confirmation hearings with no opposition, whereas the two Bush appointments, John Roberts and Sam Alito, had Senators voting against their confirmation strictly on ideological grounds. Temperament and competence are the two yardsticks one uses to measure whether someone is a fit for the court, not ideology. But in the polarized atmosphere we're working with today, that has changed.

If McCain is elected, he will likely have to face a Senate that that is overwhelmingly Democratic (over 57 Senators). With some of the liberal justices retiring (some of the older ones like Ginsberg and Stevens won't be able to hold on in the court forever), some the Democrats in the Senate will demand from McCain a consensus, moderate nominee. If he doesn't give them a moderate, there will be a showdown in the Senate; although I suspect that McCain's appointments will be moderate, certainly moreso than Obama's. A President McCain won't have as much power as Bush did because he won't have a pliant Congress, nor is McCain as confrontational as Bush.

  After the unconstitutional Bork debacle, the republicans put together a short list of potential nominees to the court and every republican president (except GWB with Harriet Myers) since has drawn fom it.  I shudder to think who Obama will nominate if the more moderate Bill Clinton had the audacity to draw from the ACLU ranks and propose Ruth Bader-ginsburg.  Can you imagine a republican proposing a qualified legal counsel who might have spoken to someone at the NRA at some point in his life?  Tell me again there's no press bias. 

More importantly, what would keep one of these left-wing zealots off the court?  An unrestrained left-wing of the democrat party will be firmly ensconced with power soon.  Buckle up, it promises to be quite a ride.

Yes, do tell.
UPDATE: Nobody else is curious?