"If the president is foolish enough to nominate Al Gonzales, what he will find is a divided base that will take it out on candidates in 2006," says Manuel Miranda, who heads a coalition of conservative groups called Third Branch Conference.

A former legal counsel to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Miranda went on to threaten retribution against Bush's brother Jeb, should he decide to run for president.

"We're not Republican patsies," he tells Newsweek. "Jeb Bush can go sell insurance."

Newsweek Chief Political Correspondent Howard Fineman and Deputy Washington Bureau Chief Debra Rosenberg preview the battle ahead for O'Connor's replacement in the July 11 cover, "O'Connor's Odyssey" (on newsstands Monday, July 4).

"This is probably the most significant Supreme Court resignation and nomination we'll see in our lifetimes," says Jay Sekulow, counsel of the conservative American Center for Law and Justice. His counterpart at the liberal Alliance for Justice agreed. "The stakes are now enormous," says Nan Aron.

Also in the cover package, Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas and Contributing Editor Stuart Taylor Jr. recount the legacy of O'Connor and her years on the bench, where she was the classic swing vote in countless 5-to-4 decisions.

Newsweek also lists the likely contenders for O'Connor's successor: Edith Brown Clement, a Fifth Circuit judge; John Roberts, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C.; J. Michael Luttig, a Fourth Circuit judge; J. Harvie Wilkinson III, a Fourth Circuit judge; Janice Rogers Brown, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C., and Gonzales.

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