If their constituents think ideology is a good reason to vote against a nominee, … they’re going to vote against him.

During the first four years of justices’ tenure, their voting behavior correlates at a rather high level with their appointing president’s ideology, but for justices with ten or more years of service, that relationship drops...

It takes the focus off what the Supreme Court really does. We don’t get questions on what’s maybe half of the court’s docket on economic disputes. We don’t get questions about anticipating future cases–the future...

In other words, liberal presidents appoint liberal justices who continue to take liberal positions for a while. Ditto for conservatives. But as new issues come to the Court, or as the justice for whatever reason...

Before 1952, more than 60 percent of all Supreme Court justices were not judges. After 1952, the numbers sort of reversed.

I told my class the other day I have no idea what judicial activism is, … Maybe the best definition of a judicial activist is a judge you don’t like.