I suspect Kennedy and Alito are unpopular for different reasons.

Alito doesn't get "favorite" votes b/c he's sorta bland. Kennedy doesn't get "favorite" votes b/c he pisses off everyone at one time or another - sometimes conservatives, sometimes liberals.

I voted for Ginsburg b/c she is a hottie. Meow.

I wouldn't call RBG a "hottie." But she is strangely SEXY...

It would be more accurate to divide them up into five tiers of popularity:

1. AS (25%)

2. JGR, JPS (15-16%)

3. CT, DHS (11%)

4. SGB, RBG (8-9%)

5. AMK, SAA (2-3%)

You seriously underestimate my dislike for Justice Souter, and my willingness to order a paralegal to spend an hour "voting" for him.

Bring on the least favorite Justice poll!

Who the hell could LIKE Souter? Especially over Breyer, who at least has a triple-digit IQ.

I understand that lefties love Stevens, he has that anti-business, "Back in my day, Sonny..." luddite charm.

"Kennedy doesn't get "favorite" votes b/c he pisses off everyone at one time or another - sometimes conservatives, sometimes liberals."

Looks like at least forty-three of us might be voting on criteria other than "I agree with my favorite Justice's opinions 100 percent of the time".

Say what you will, the man obviously takes his role as a Justice very seriously, and as such inspires respect. Rather than goof off or indulge in wisecracking, shoot-from-the-hip partisan zingers, Kennedy honors the dignity and integrity of the court by appealing to our highest ideals as a nation (civic pride and citizen involvement, judicial independence, etc.) What's not to like about that? Here's wishing him a long, long tenure.

Justice Kennedy certainly "honors the dignity and integrity of the court." But some say that he's a bit TOO concerned with what people think of the court - and, by extension, what they think about him.

Wasn't AMK the justice that conservatives developed the "Greenhouse effect" crack about (because of AMK's alleged concern for what Linda Greenhouse writes about him)? He always seems to be trying to navigate a middle path to please everybody (like SOC did back in the day).

9:06 PM: I can see Souter's appeal, but mainly to hard-core liberal partisans. They love him for his "betrayal" of the conservatives who put him on the Court.

"Wasn't AMK the justice that conservatives developed the "Greenhouse effect" crack about (because of AMK's alleged concern for what Linda Greenhouse writes about him)?"

Yes, but I suspect Laurence Silberman's sleazy cheap shot is repeated mainly because it's a good pun, not because it actually means anything. (It doesn't.) This is the same mentality that leads arrogant loser clerks to call Justice Kennedy "Flipper" behind his back, too. Unfortunately, our cultural tone is pitched so low that derisive jokes aimed at public figures-- no matter how untrue or unfair-- have a lot of staying power. Just ask Justice Thomas.

I think the real problem is that it's totally beyond the capacity of knee-jerk partisans of all persuasions to understand how someone could be a deeply principled, moral human being, yet refuse to force his interpretation of the Constitution into a simplistic "A or B" ideologically-driven framework. The only conclusion they can draw is that he's an "equivocating dupe of the media." Once you actually listen to the man in his own words, you realize they couldn't be more wrong.

The one thing I think we all can agree on is we'll never see the likes of Justice Kennedy on the court again. Unfortunately, from now on we're going to get exactly what we, as a society, deserve. Did you catch the quaver in his voice at the end of his ABA speech? I think he knows this too.

Anon 3:52: Or they could just love him for being sophisticated, witty, thoughtful and cosmopolitan. Depends on who you ask, I guess.

Lucian: You don't think that Chief Justice Roberts (or maybe even Justice Alito) has the potential to be a Kennedy-like justice -- principled, not an ideological hack for either side, etc.?

Well, I do. But I also believe their nominations had a lot to do with being slippery enough to make "the right people" in the Executive assume they were in their hip pocket. Here's hoping they both really pulled a fast one.

And as for the idea of being "too concerned" with the dignity and integrity of the court? Given the dangerous intellectual climate we live in, I don't think that's possible. Why? Because no other branch of government is so critically dependent in its functioning on public confidence in the personal reputation of its members. When respect for the court fails, the judgments become unenforcable and the whole branch fails. We're on the edge of an abyss here, and all it would take is one really good shove and the whole system of checks and balances itself will fall apart.

Which brings me to an example of how Justice Scalia's personal off-the-cuff rhetorical style is counterproductive. He should have known his comments on the merits of judicial independence would be taken out of context and dumbed down to the point that your average red-state Republican reader is going to come away with the idea that "Scalia thinks judicial independence is a bunch of BS". It's an open invitation to GOP propagandist demagogues to spin it that way to "energize the base", tilt the balance of power between the branches and further their own ends. I don't for a minute mean to imply that was Justice Scalia's intention, but for God's sake, would it really hurt anything to be more careful?

Several months ago when I read that Karl Rove said "judges will be the key to winning this election," I almost peed my pants. Well, it's October 26th and it looks like somewhere along the line he changed his mind...all I know is that if I were religious, I'd have been praying about it every single day.

fuck the supreme court - this country is going backwards with their dickheaded right wing pro corporate bullshit - fuck you stormtroopers - youre fucking up my country