Titled:     Shift on the Bench Has Already Begun

The failure of Democrats to appease their base and fillibuster Alito's appointment to the Supreme Court has resulted in a shift to the bench, but not in the way you may expect.

Alito is now on the extreme far right - of the bench, that is:

As the junior associate justice, Alito will occupy the end of the bench farthest to the courtroom audience's right during oral arguments. Justice Stephen G. Breyer, who has sat there since October 1994, will move across to the audience's extreme left.

Alito also now gets to answer the door during the court's closed conferences, and report the justices' votes to the clerk of the court.

Breyer was the court's junior member for 11 years, 181 days, about a month shy of the record set by Joseph Story, who served during the 19th century.

That's a long time to be a noob.