On nearly every score, Sen. McCain agrees with conservatives, but he has made a series of exceptions to their orthodoxy. As a result, while liberals think he is a conservative, conservatives fear he is a liberal.

Combined with his record of breaking with the party line on issues such as immigration, torture and campaign finance, this has led to a sense that Sen. McCain is something of a moderate on social policy as well. That impression hurts him with the social conservatives who form a critical part of his party’s base, but it could help him with independent voters this fall.

At Tuesday’s speech at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., he will articulate a conservative judicial philosophy and the principles he would use to appoint justices to the Supreme Court. That includes “strict interpretation of the Constitution” and antipathy for “judicial activism,” a McCain adviser said.

In the past, he has praised Supreme Court justices Antonin Scalia, John Roberts and Samuel Alito.

Judges are a key issue for conservatives, who have concluded that they can’t advance their agenda unless they have backing from the courts. The Tuesday speech is likely to tell them what they want to hear.

But Sen. McCain’s record offers evidence for both sides of the culture wars. On nearly every hot-button issue, Sen. McCain has a “yes, but” answer.