I stated something about this on my blog (though it was regarding Souter leaving and it was before Sotomayor was nominated). Even if Sotomayor was on the bench, the result still would have been the same. Moderate-liberal Souter will (most likely) be replaced with a hard leftist. In fact, if you look at the situation, the next two likely candidates to go will probably be either Stevens or Bader-Ginsburg, who are both in their 80’s.

For the time being, the conservative judges are relatively young. Kennedy will probably be there for a little while and he’s basically the swing vote.

While in the short term, not much will change in the Court, the long term ramifications are considerable. If Stevens and Bader-Ginsburg leave (which is a possibility within Obama’s administration, especially if he wins another term), they will probably be replaced with hard leftists. This means that there will be three major leftists (if you count Sotomayor) in the Court for a long time. That’ll make presidential elections even more crucial in the next 10-15 years.