Rank the Justices from best to worst

[revoLucian1776]

I'm a law student, and was a Republican until I switched to the LP, mostly to help some friends who wanted to run on the LP line, and being increasingly disaffected with the GOP and partisanship in DC.

I have a degree of respect for all the justices and think the integrity of the court should be protected as much as is reasonable.

When it comes to being a writer and being impactful, I found Antonin Scalia the greatest judge of my lifetime. Despite her personality cult, I find Ginsberg lacking. She's highly impressive in a lot of ways, but hasn't written many opinions of significance. She was a great lawyer and I have respect to anyone who can get treated for cancer and still show up to work on time.

I find Gorsuch to have been a good justice, and I have similar esteem for Alito, just based on their opinions, both write great opinions and are well-reasoned. I think Kagan is a solid justice as well.

Breyer is a decent judge in general.

I do not know enough to rank Barrett yet, but generally think she had a solid performance as a jurist before joining the highest court and it's nice to see someone who didn't go to Harvard or Yale (Notre Dame Law School is just as challenging).

I take issue with Kavanaugh Roberts, Thomas, and Sotomayor. Mostly for different reasons.
I find Kavanaugh and Roberts to be too "politiciany." They tend to like to form majorities and build consensus, which is great for a Senator, not what being a judge is about. That said, Roberts has written some very interesting opinions.

Sotomayor is a bit of an extremist and hasn't written many notable opinions and is becoming increasingly self-important as a figure on the American left, who are looking for a new RBG (again, great lawyer, great mind, mediocre judge). Sotomayor also has expressed admiration for Thurgood Marshall who was an abysmal judge. Marshall said "vote your conscience and let the law catch up." We don't need more shamelessly activist judges, and Sotomayor seems to have a similar mindset at times. She has bastardized the Constitution several times already.

Thomas has written the occasional interesting opinion, but not many. He tends to err away from concurring opinions, which is a disappointment. He was in Scalia's shadow among the right and that was a tall shadow to stand in and Scalia often took control of writing the more meaningful dissents and opinions than Thomas did, and since Scalia's passing, Thomas has continued to work less than he can and ought to.

Ketanji Brown-Jackson I know too little about, the fact people are fawning over her on here when she hasn't even joined the court is worrying. That said, if you want to know the kind of impact Scalia had, Even Brown-Jackson claims to be an originalist and likely will sit on the center-left like her mentor, Stephen Breyer.

That's my take.