Democratic Majority in the Senate = More Bipartisanship on Judges?

In a New York Times "If and When" column over the weekend, Robin Toner predicted that "A Democratic majority in the Senate could also stymie, or at least slow, the conservative reconstruction of the Supreme Court, assuming another vacancy occurs in the next two years, and force President Bush to seek more bipartisanship on all judicial nominees." Toner also quoted the Judiciary Committee's ranking Democrat, Patrick Leahy, who agreed: “You’re not going to have a polarizing figure ... It would require more of an effort at consensus for lifetime appointments.”