WASHINGTON AP – Liberals fear that after they helped elect President Barack Obama he’ll abandon them when he nominates a Supreme Court justice, choosing a consensus-building moderate rather than a liberal in the mold of retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

If that’s Obama’s plan, liberals say a Democratic administration holding a significant majority in the Senate could be blamed for sending the nation’s highest court tilting farther to the right, a significant betrayal for an administration that will need help from its hard-core supporters in a fierce confirmation battle and midterm congressional elections.