Supreme Court Soap Opera

Oh, goody.  Washington's worst-kept secret is slowly leaking out -- Justice Stevens is finally going to call it quits.  As Byron York notes, Democrats are really hoping he does it this year instead of waiting until next year.

My personal view is that the GOP can still make this a useful election issue, and we can all see it as a teaching tool.  The confirmation hearings probably cannot include a series of questions as to how a nominee would vote on the constituionality of Obamacare's individual mandate (since a prospective justice would likely properly refuse to pre-judge such an issue), but there's plenty of room for discussion of precedent and the Commerce Clause.  On additional question -- if Elena Kagen (the current SG) is indeed named to the bench (and she is considered the front-runner), would there be an argument in favor of having her recuse herself from any eventual Supreme Court decision on Obamacare?