Let us eliminate for you some of the suspense surrounding President Obama's nomination Tuesday of Sonia Sotomayor as the replacement for retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter:

Barring some kind of substantial skeleton in the closet that Obama's staff members didn't find - a remote but not unimaginable possibility, considering some of Obama's Cabinet appointments - Sotomayor will be confirmed by the Senate.

Republicans will ask some pointed questions during confirmation hearings, but they won't have the heart (or, for that matter, the votes) to put up much of a battle against the woman who would become the first Latina on the high court, especially considering the increasing electoral clout of Hispanics.

Other arguments against Sotomayor won't stick: Who could argue, for example, that she's not smart enough for the job, considering the fact that she graduated top of her class from Princeton? She brings an impressive resume of experience to the job. Politically, she likely would fall to the left of the current court, but so what? Obama's politics stand to the left of the current court, and he gets to make the nominations. (In fact, it's undoubtedly true that some voters cast their ballots for Obama precisely because of the type of nominations he'd make for the high court.)

Remember, however, that these are appointments for a lifetime, and Supreme Court justices often end up evolving in unexpected ways during their decades of service; as Jeffrey Toobin's recent book on the court, "The Nine," explained, it's not unusual for justices to move toward the center as they work to form voting alliances with other justices. Presidents who thought they had a pretty good handle on how a justice might evolve on the court often have been frustrated.

Regardless of the journey that Sotomayor will take on the court, Obama still is likely to enjoy a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape the Supreme Court: After Souter retires, five of the remaining justices will be 70 or older.

At this writing, the nomination of Sotomayor looks like such a sure thing that the president's political foes may well decide to sit this one out.

But don't be surprised if a much bigger fight erupts over Obama's next high court nominee, and the one after that, and the one after that. After all, the stakes will go up with each new nominee.