Reply #225: My money would be on Alito... [View All]

[Chan790]

Scalia likes to keep up the illusion he's a legal scholar right up until he renders a "I don't give a shit about the law, this is my ideology" decision. Sammy Alito is just a small-time small-minded partisan hack who seems over his head on the court most days.

The difference there is subtle:

Scalia understands the law and does not care because he's a partisan hack.

Alito doesn't actually understand the law, doesn't care that he doesn't understand and makes poor decisions because he is a partisan hack. Note that even the hardcore RW ideologues of SCOTUS (Scalia, Thomas, less-so slightly for Roberts) won't actually let him write any major decisions because they're afraid he's going to say something moronic or gloat or say something that opens up a path to raising a question that overturns the decision in the future.