# Remove one Supreme Court justice **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 16, 2011, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555 "2011-02-16T06:26:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/21 "2011-02-16T16:37:51Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > Scalia, by a nose over Thomas. Same for me. Scalia is truly evil but Thomas is just a dumb #&%\*. Thomas follows Scalia’s lead, so with Scalia out of the way maybe Thomas would just have a nervous breakdown and leave. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/22 "2011-02-16T19:56:53Z")
Roberts because he’s relatively young & a bit too tan. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/23 "2011-02-16T20:43:25Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > They all have equal votes so not sure how much power deciding who writes a decision wields. I did not think, power-wise, a Chief Justice was notably beyond an Associate. In this I have no clue though so could be wrong (and am curious). The big power the Chief has is that he can, if he’s in the majority, decide who writes the decision. Who writes the decision is important for a few reasons. One of the major reasons is that it determines how wide or narrow the narrow is. Take, for instance, Richmond v Croson, which overturned Richmond’s minority setaside program. Justice O’Connor wrote the decision, and it was one of earliest big decisions. In that case, the court said that a city can’t set a quota according to race merely because there’s been past racial discrimination in the city, but that, if (all quotes come from the summary): > [@](#): > > the city could identify past discrimination in the local construction industry with the particularity required by the Equal Protection Clause, it would have the power to adopt race-based legislation designed to eradicate the effects of that discrimination. So that became the controlling decision. Now, if Scalia had written the decision, saying as he did in his concurrence: > [@](#): > > The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits state and local governments from discriminating on the basis of race in order to undo the effects of past discrimination, except in one circumstance: where that is necessary to eliminate their own maintenance of a system of unlawful racial classification. Moreover, the State’s remedial power in that instance extends no further than the scope of the constitutional violation, and does not encompass the continuing effects of a discriminatory system once the system itself has been eliminated. > > The State remains free to undo the effects of past discrimination in permissible ways that do not involve classification by race - for example, by according a contracting preference to small or new businesses or to actual victims of discrimination who can be identified. In the latter instance, the classification would not be based on race but on the fact that the victims were wronged. then one of two things would have happened. Either the coalition to declare the law unconstitutional would have held, which would have, under Scalia’s decision, found all minority setasides unconstitutional. Or, it would have fallen apart, and rather than concurring in the decision, Rehnquist, O’Connor, Stevens and White would have sided with the city, the decision would have been 7-2 the other way, and the Richmond program would have survived. So that’s one example of how deciding who writes the decision makes a big difference in the results. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/24 "2011-02-16T21:31:13Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > While I would not want their kind in the majority, I think it’s useful to have intelligent conservative judges on the court such as Roberts and Scalia. If nothing else, they give the “liberals” an incentive to sharpen their arguments on their side of the decisions. Thomas lacks their intelligence, and smells to me of corruption. Plus, with him off the bench, Obama can pick a moderately liberal African American in his place. That’s why I chose Thomas. I want the Court to be balanced and to have strong conservative views on the bench. If I were looking for a way to make the Court more liberal, then I’d ditch Roberts. However, not all the cases are about politics. A lot of them involve coming up with good legal standards in very complicated cases. Not very easy to do, and I don’t mind having someone as smart as Scalia or Roberts deciding legal issues that aren’t very political. Thomas just doesn’t impress me at all, and I think it’s too kind to describe his views as “unique.” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/25 "2011-02-16T21:32:41Z")
Imagining this as a sort of carnival game a la the OP’s username. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/26 "2011-02-16T22:03:57Z")
Alito. I’ll be honest, I want to rebalance the Court, so one of the four most conservative Justices would have to go. I think there is a place for textualists on the Court, and Scalia is very intelligent, and I value some of his decisions on police searches et al, as well as his experience in Administrative Law. Thomas is very smart, and can come out with interesting opinions on some free speech matters. Roberts appears to be a good administrator, and (though I haven’t read his decisions enough to know this) I have been told by liberal people who worked with him in the past he is a fair and open minded man. Alito on the other hand doesn’t really bring anything, so he is the one of the four to go. I’d like to see him replaced by a true liberal legal philosopher - Ronald Dworkin if he was younger. Failing that, a “liberal” leaning jurist with antitrust experience (which is where we will miss Stevens). ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/27 "2011-02-16T22:22:42Z")
Thomas. I still believe Anita Hill. Plus he nearly always votes the right wing interest, although some posters may find one exception which gives him lifetime immunity from that accusation in their opinion. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/28 "2011-02-16T22:55:37Z")
I’d choose Scalia, just to see how long it takes for Thomas to go into lock-up mode, the way Nomad did in [The Changeling.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Changeling_%28Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series%29) Well, not _exactly_ that way. I wouldn’t anticipate him actually blowing out his capacitors. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/29 "2011-02-16T22:58:25Z")
While I distrust Scalia and Thomas more, I’d remove Roberts. That way the current admin gets to select a new chief justice. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/30 "2011-02-16T23:17:40Z")
I picked Scalia over Thomas because everyone sees Thomas for what he is but some people think Scalia is some kind of hero/genius. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/31 "2011-02-16T23:30:07Z")
At first I was going to say “no one” because I like having a court split between conservatives and liberals. Then I decided I’d be more comfortable if the liberals had a clearer majority, so I thought about dropping Roberts, Scalia or Thomas. I have a lot of respect for Scalia even though I usually disagree with him. I had my finger on Roberts – I think he’s a tool of Big Business – but I finally voted for Thomas because in the end I have the least amount of confidence in his decision making and I think he is the most politically biased. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/32 "2011-02-16T23:43:15Z")
Scalia. He’s very very smart, and evidently quite charismatic. Combine that with evil and crazy, and you have a very dangerous package. I have to think Thomas wouldn’t be as bad without Scalia around. Though the arguments for Roberts make sense to me, I just can’t get past my gut reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/33 "2011-02-16T23:44:24Z")
Depends. Are we picking the one that we think is the least qualified, or the one whose absence we think would best help our own personal political preference? From what I read, I would pick as “least qualified” Justice Thomas (not trying to say he is totally unqualified, but in any group of people there is probably going to be one who is the weakest performer). Otherwise I would pick Justice Roberts because of the reasons that Captain Amazing stated in post 6. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/34 "2011-02-17T00:10:55Z")
Roberts. He is the biggest corporate whore in the history of American jurisprudence. And that is saying something. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/35 "2011-02-17T01:32:41Z")
Elena ‘Paula Blart’ Kagan ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/36 "2011-02-17T01:38:11Z")
May I make a suggestion? Please put Bork on the list. I think, just to make a point, we need to discredit him some more . . . . :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/37 "2011-02-17T01:41:16Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Roberts. He is the biggest corporate whore in the history of American jurisprudence. And that is saying something. I was trying to find a way to express just this thought. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/38 "2011-02-17T01:42:49Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I was trying to find a way to express just this thought. Thank you. You are welcome. It’s why I get the big bucks. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555/39 "2011-02-17T02:23:41Z")
Clarence Thomas. He treats the Supreme Court like a particularly boring friday afternoon staff meeting, and that makes me kind of mad. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remove-one-supreme-court-justice/571555.md?page=1)