But what the Court loses without Stevens is not merely a reliable center-left vote -- that position will remain well-manned by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor -- it's a passionate progressive bedrock, a voice with intellectual energy and moral gravitas that can not just take part in the crucial discussions of our day, but lead them.
They wanted only that the exchange be self-sustaining, that it provide a scrupulously reliable center for thoroughbred horse trading.
Update, once the reliable center of an always uneven show, continues to feel slightly off, though it's getting incrementally better.
In the course of this fight, the reputation of the United States as a reliable financial center has been damaged.
HAMBURG, Germany — An eight-hour production of Goethe's "Faust" may be the highbrow hit of the fall at the grand Thalia state theater here, but it is an altogether different blockbuster — the Disney musical "Tarzan" — that exemplifies why modern Hamburg has become that rare thing in the theater world: a reliable profit center for producers outside of their two biggest markets, New York and London.
Low-budget horror has long been a reliable profit center for the film industry, with recent examples including "The Purge: Election Year" and "The Conjuring 2". But the eye-popping success of "Lights Out" represents a potential watershed moment for studios looking to YouTube as a source of inexpensive, untapped talent and ideas.
The usually reliable center Jonathan Goodwin became somewhat of a liability down the stretch in '10, which is why the Saints brought in longtime Bear Olin Kreutz.
It didn't help that the reliable center Tyson Chandler was suffering from the effects of an illness and didn't do himself or his team any favors by inspiring James even more with a flagrant foul late in the second quarter.
But he's also the reliable center of sanity — before Ms. DioGuardi was added to the panel, often he was the only person tethering the show's judging to logic.
The recent firing of Coach Mike Dunleavy showed that the Trail Blazers are committed to trying to work with Wallace, their troublesome star, and with Arvydas Sabonis giving way to age and Shawn Kemp battling weight and substance abuse problems, Davis is their only reliable center.
Last night, the Rangers rested their two most reliable centers who remain healthy, Bob Brooke and Mike Ridley, and began juggling other players to attempt to fill the empty spots at center.
