He will appoint other conservatives, less brilliant and outspoken and less open to intellectual debate, until one of them is confirmed.

The president campaigned on a promise to appoint conservatives to the court, and "you're going to get a strong conservative," Mr. Graham said in an interview on the CBS program "Face the Nation."

He said that he would support voluntary prayer in school and that he would appoint only conservatives as Federal judges.

But other conservatives said there was no reason to fear, given Mr. Bush's record of appointing conservatives as president, and noted Mr. Bush's unambiguous embrace of conservative ideals.

As Regent, Gao appointed conservatives such as Sima Guang as Chancellor, who halted socio-economic improvements set forth by Wang Anshi.

At a time when President Bush and his Republican majority in Congress are continually arguing that they have the mandate to appoint extreme conservatives to the federal bench, the highest court of all has surprised many people with its moderation.

The fight over the most extreme of President Bush's judicial nominations is not a fight against his right to appoint conservatives to the bench.

Comonfort sought to placate the rebels by appointing several conservatives to the Cabinet, dissolving the Congress, and implementing most of the Tacubaya Plan.

Pope John Paul II has steadily curbed the influence of liberation theologians, appointing conservatives to replace them.

The Vatican has also appointed conservatives to succeed liberals as archbishops in Brasilia, Recife and Salvador.