# Who's your favorite US Supreme Court Justice, and why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 1, 2013, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869 "2013-06-01T16:08:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [June 3, 2013, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/21 "2013-06-03T16:51:50Z")
My personal favorite was Brennan. I’ve never met a Supreme, although I have practiced in front of Judge Breyer at district court in San Francisco. Very pleasant man, very smart. Supposedly so is his brother. One of my law professors, Charles Reich, was a very close friend of William O. Douglas and a clerk for Hugo Black. ---
**Author:** ![Renee\_RL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7c8e57/32.png) [@Renee\_RL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee_RL)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/22 "2013-06-04T02:59:22Z")
I loved Ruth bader Ginsburg but now I think she is being selfish by not stepping down. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/23 "2013-06-04T03:02:51Z")
Justices should be apolitical, but even if she is concerned about her replacement she has three more years. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/24 "2013-06-04T06:14:14Z")
My favorite is Associate Justice Darth Vader, best known for his unique contributions to legal realism, e.g., as in his most famous opinion, rendered in _Imperial Forces v. Fartooine Rebels,_ "My forcehand is at your throat and that’s **real."** ---
**Author:** ![Renee\_RL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7c8e57/32.png) [@Renee\_RL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee_RL)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/25 "2013-06-04T19:48:18Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Justices should be apolitical, but even if she is concerned about her replacement she has three more years. She is am sick woman ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/26 "2013-06-04T19:52:04Z")
So? She’s missed 21 days of work in six years. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/27 "2013-06-05T06:29:39Z")
Nothing wrong with staying on until death, that’s what justices were intended to do. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/28 "2013-06-05T15:02:33Z")
Haven’t met any, but our local law school has hosted programs I’ve attended that included speeches by O’Connor, Scalia (twice), and Breyer. It’s interesting to hear Scalia speak, but he’s not my favorite, even if his opinions are generally entertaining. My favorite would probably be John Paul Stevens, because I find his opinions easy to read and usually in line with my own feelings about a given issue. He also [wrote to Dave Barry about Beano](http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19910923&slug=1307035). ---
**Author:** ![Renee\_RL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7c8e57/32.png) [@Renee\_RL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee_RL)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/29 "2013-06-05T18:44:21Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Nothing wrong with staying on until death, that’s what justices were intended to do. Justice Douglas was senile when sitting on the bench. His young wife spoke for him. He was pressured to leave and was a hindrance to the court. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/30 "2013-06-05T19:21:09Z")
The honorable Bill Clinton. 🆒 Oh, I guess we are not counting future SCJ’s. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/31 "2013-06-05T19:48:32Z")
My favorite justice is Sonia Sotomayor, because she does skits on Sesame Street. ---
**Author:** ![Renee\_RL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7c8e57/32.png) [@Renee\_RL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee_RL)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/32 "2013-06-06T12:55:05Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > The honorable Bill Clinton. 🆒 > > Oh, I guess we are not counting future SCJ’s. 😃 Future would be Obama…a constitutional lawyer ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/33 "2013-06-06T13:01:57Z")
A constitutional lawyer should not get consistently defeated on 1st amendment cases. This one does. A constitutional lawyer should NEVER get defeated 9-0 on a 1st amendment case. We can only assume that he doesn’t really know much about the Constitution, or that he simply doesn’t care. ---
**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:** [June 6, 2013, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/34 "2013-06-06T13:27:25Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > A constitutional lawyer should not get consistently defeated on 1st amendment cases. This one does. A constitutional lawyer should NEVER get defeated 9-0 on a 1st amendment case. We can only assume that he doesn’t really know much about the Constitution, or that he simply doesn’t care. How many cases does it take to make “consistent”? One? Two? Please enumerate. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/35 "2013-06-06T13:35:06Z")
I must have missed all the times Obama tried first amendment cases. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/36 "2013-06-06T13:48:37Z")
Only one President (Taft, who was under-qualified) ever went on to serve on the Supreme Court, it’s unlikely to happen again anytime soon. The career paths that lead to the White House and the Supreme Court are quite different. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/37 "2013-06-06T14:00:24Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > How many cases does it take to make “consistent”? One? Two? Please enumerate. How about one 1st amendment case win? He had one huge loss, the case where he got smacked down 9-0 for trying to interfere in a church’s hiring decisions. ---
**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:** [June 6, 2013, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/38 "2013-06-06T14:11:31Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > How about one 1st amendment case win? He had one huge loss, the case where he got smacked down 9-0 for trying to interfere in a church’s hiring decisions. Was it the case of a teacher in a Lutheran school claiming that she was fired because of a disability and sued the school under the ADA? If so, I think it’s a bit of a stretch to call it a “hiring decision”. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/39 "2013-06-06T14:14:53Z")
The Supreme Court unanimously felt it was. ---
**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:** [June 6, 2013, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869/40 "2013-06-06T14:17:41Z")
I’d say it was an employment decision, not a hiring one. The question of whether the ADA applies to religious organizations is a legitimate one. The ACLU, hardly an enemy of the First Amendment, supported the Obama Administrations’s case. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-us-supreme-court-justice-and-why/659869.md?page=3)