Republican presidents have been notoriously bad at nominating justices that interpret the law as written, instead of projecting their own personal views and age

Republican presidents have been notoriously bad at nominating justices that interpret the law as written, instead of projecting their own personal views and agenda onto them. Anthony Kennedy and David Souter both being particular bad appointees, John Roberts is also pretty bad. Merrick Garland did not have the votes to be confirmed. Let's not pretend that the democrats would not ram through a justice to replace RBG in the exact same scenario where they have the White House and the Senate.