People for the American Way have prepared a report of this term's Supreme Court decisions. The link should be up on their site shortly. It finds:

The Supreme Court decided a number of important cases concerning civil rights and civil liberties in its 2004-2005 term. Overall, the Court protected key civil rights and liberties, and disappointed those seeking to expand property rights and limit Congress’ power – often by narrow margins – though some narrow decisions regarding access to justice and immigrant rights were disappointing. In fact, many of the key rulings, discussed in further detail below, were decided by narrow margins of 5-4 (or 5-3 due to the absence of Chief Justice Rehnquist), emphasizing the significance of future vacancies on the Supreme Court.

The choice of a replacement for any of the Supeme Court Justices has never been more important.