After all, the main lesson of this Senate showdown was not that Democrats would fight back; it’s that the current Republican Party stands strongly behind the idea of “nullification” — that even after losing presidential and Senate elections, Republicans will use whatever ability Senate procedure gives them to prevent President Obama and the Democratic Senate majority from fulfilling the normal governing practice of filling vacancies in the government, including the federal bench.

It is likely, then, that Ginsburg and Breyer will only be replaced by similar mainstream liberals if there is unified Democratic control of the White House and the Senate.

If Republicans happen to gain six or more Senate seats in 2014, and with them a Senate majority, it’s very likely they will simply bottle up most judicial nominations in committee, not even allowing floor votes. That would almost certainly apply to Supreme Court picks. Which Judiciary Committee Republicans would defy tea partiers and risk a strong primary challenge by voting to move a nominee to the Senate floor?