Todd writes below:

While they may both turn out to be perfectly fine Justices, both Roberts and Miers appear to be both uninspired and uninspiring in terms of providing intellectual leadership on the Court. The Administration seems to be narrowly obsessed with winning minor tactical victories (here, an easy confirmation of a stealth candidate) while consistently failing to follow-through with meaningful long-term strategic victories (an opportunity to change the legal culture).

  We don't know yet if this is true for Harriett Miers, but I can't disagree more strongly with Todd about the case of John Roberts. I think John Roberts is ideally suited to provide intellectual leadership on the Court; I think his work is going to have a profound effect on the legal profession and will exert a significant influence on trends in legal thought. Roberts believes deeply in the legal craft and in legal reasoning, and I think his leadership is going to impose a discipline on the work of the Court that will prove highly influential in the legal culture at large. The likelihood of that kind of impact is exactly what made Roberts such an inspired choice.