From Michael Kinsley:
Is a conservative someone whose core belief is that courts should follow precedents, be slow to change established laws — even laws that a judge may disagree with? Would a conservative vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade, for example, or would he or she reason that abortion rights are now so embedded in society and law that it would be “activism” for a judge to meddle with them?
Or is a conservative — at least in the legal context — someone who feels most strongly that the laws and the Constitution should not be used to impose a judge’s political preferences? This is what Justice Antonin Scalia called “originalism.” This kind of conservative would say about abortion, “Find it for me in the Constitution, buddy.”
Yet another type of conservative would say (not out loud!) “Look — we’re in power; we won’t always be in power: why shouldn’t we impose conservative policies on the country? The libs did it when they had the chance.” This crowd would probably try to impeach Justice Kavanaugh if he didn’t vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Although liberals hope that if Kavanaugh is confirmed he will turn out to be the first kind of conservative, why should I, or any other citizen, have to guess?