Breyer, Ginsburg had it easy in '90s.(NATION)

Byline: Guy Taylor, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Legal scholars are citing the easy 1990s confirmations of Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a historical precedent for avoiding a major partisan fight over the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr.

Deference to the president, along with solid qualifications on the nominees' parts, won favor on both sides of the aisle, although other scholars warn that the political landscape has changed since the mid-1990s.

Justice Breyer had been a federal judge in Boston and longtime lecturer at Harvard Law School, while key conservatives were similarly won over by Justice Ginsburg's record as a …