Worst SCOTUS justice

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Thomas, the only cases he affirmed that was liberal were: right to privacy and adult material in 1993, for obvious reasons, ban on disabled people and executions and ban on cross burnings. Everything else he hasnt been a moderate voice on and he is in Thurgood Marshall seat. Marshall would have wanted him to be more maverick, but he choses not to.

[foolcase]

Ginsburg is the worst.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Ginsburg is the worst.

We wont know it she botched the CRT for liberals until after the 2020 election, or if she survives 2020. Whichever comes first. But, she should of retired before Obana was done in office.

She knew she had cancer

[dw93]

Thomas on balance, though Alito is a close second.

[OSR STANDS WITH PALESTINE]

RBG is not just the current worst, but among the all time worst

[brucejoel99]

As for the worst justice, its easily Sotomayor. She has absolutely nothing to recommend her. Her writing quality is poor, she's showed a willingness to be influenced by disapproving press on the left, and she is unquestionably the biggest partisan hack on the court. Its such a shame, because Obama's other appointee Kagan is one of the best members of the court.

100% disagree. Her opinions read like, "y’all are f**king naive if you think this is the way the law is actually enforced." She's the most removed from any ivory tower BS & isn't afraid to talk in detail about how the Court's decisions will impact real, everyday people.

[foolcase]

RBG is not just the current worst, but among the all time worst

Considering literal Klansman Hugo Black was on the court, as well as those who decided Plessy, Dred Scott, and Korematsu, I wouldn't put RBG as that bad.

[libertpaulian]

Breyer.  A stain on the liberal wing when it comes to civil liberties and criminal justice issues.  Alito comes in a close second, though.

[lfromnj]

The first to come to mind was Alito and after thinking a little more about it, I'm sticking with him. I think he has the fewest redeemable qualities. Thomas and Kavanaugh have concerns, on and off bench, but Alito is the worst when it comes to what affects average American lives.

What redeeming qualities does Thomas even have? Is it that Thomas and Gorsuch occasionally strike down racial gerrymanders?

Thomas is the only member of the court who could be reasonably called "anti-elitist." Exclusively among the court, Justice Thomas will look for and routinely hire clerks outside of the Ivy League. He's on record saying that he doesn't believe that the top performers at high-tier state schools and "lesser" T-14 schools are any worse than the upper tier at Harvard and Yale, which provide the vast majority of SCOTUS clerks for everyone else. Personally he's very open. He came and taught one of my classes in law school for a week and let us talk/ask about whatever we wanted. At the end, he provided his information in case we ever wanted to come by his house in the "Sovereign State of Georgia."

His judicial philosophy is the most unique on the court. Thomas does not believe that stare decisis is a principle to be given much (if any) weight. If he believes a line of cases has been wrongly decided, his opinion is that they should all go even if it means reversing years of precedent. Look at the topic in Constitution and Law on whether Roe v. Wade is good legal reasoning; the vast majority of voters agreed that it is not, but many posters believed that it was too precedential or necessary to change. That's exactly the sort of thought that Thomas regularly crusades against. If the law shouldn't have been used to interpret something X way, reverse it. It doesn't matter how old it was. He's well-known for wanting to reverse the whole Substantive Due Process (which really really is an abomination that nobody understands) line of cases all the way back to Slaughterhouse in 1873 and restore any rights lost under that where they were supposed to be , the Privileges and Immunities clause. I disagree with his reasoning a lot, but I think its helpful to have at least one justice willing to prod the others to get rid of bad caselaw despite stare decisis. Certainly better than Alito, who is an uncreative executive branch hack at best.

As for the worst justice, its easily Sotomayor. She has absolutely nothing to recommend her. Her writing quality is poor, she's showed a willingness to be influenced by disapproving press on the left, and she is unquestionably the biggest partisan hack on the court. Its such a shame, because Obama's other appointee Kagan is one of the best members of the court.

To go on further is that Thomas is very interesting on the VRA itself, he believes the VRA means that no race may be used at all in redistricting, This is definitely not something im sure is case law but I think congress should codify that.

[NewYorkExpress]

Alito is the worst because he's a blatant partisan hack.

Thomas and Kavanaugh may be rapists, but unless there's evidence they've continued that behavior, they can't be worse based on political views alone.

[Pyro]

Thomas has that honor as of February 13th, 2016.

[politicallefty]

Voted for Alito. Thomas is a total hack but he occasionally gets it right on cases that don't have a strict ideological split (this happened more when his buddy Scalia was still around since Scalia was actually pretty good on some free speech and civil liberties issues.) Alito is not just a complete hack he's also "all authoritarian all the time."

You basically took the words right out of my mouth. I voted Alito. Sometimes I follow the SCOTUSblog live blog and they announce the case first and then the author. I absolutely dread when it's Alito on one of the higher profile cases. I cannot think of a single opinion that he wrote that I can point to that I really liked, something I can't say for the other justices. He seems to vote consistently as a right-winger in Congress would. That's not something I can say about the other conservatives on the Court. He also seems to author opinions strongly supportive of the religious right and he seems to really have it out for unions.

Even on the landmark great decision Riley v. California, which unanimously protected cell phones under the Fourth Amendment, Alito was the sole justice to not join the majority opinion written by Roberts. His concurrence was really barely that. He thought the Court went too far in support of privacy rights and against law enforcement and would easily rehear a case if legislatures determined otherwise. To show how Alito feels about privacy rights and the Fourth Amendment, you need only read the final lines of his concurrence in said case:

In light of these developments, it would be very unfortunate if privacy protection in the 21st century were left primarily to the federal courts using the blunt instrument of the Fourth Amendment. Legislatures, elected by the people, are in a better position than we are to assess and respond to the changes that have already occurred and those that almost certainly will take place in the future.

[Kingpoleon]

1. Neil Gorsuch
2. John Roberts
3. Elena Kagan
4. Stephen Breyer
5. Clarence Thomas
6. Ruth Bader Ginsburg
7. Samuel Alito
8. Sonia Sotomayor
9. Brett Kavanaugh

While Gorsuch isn’t a judicial minimalist, he has by far the sharpest legal mind on the Supreme Court. Roberts’s judicial thinking isn’t always admirable, but his rulings are generally good. I generally approve of Breyer’s rulings, while Kagan and Thomas are, to me, the best judicial minds after Gorsuch. Kavanaugh and Sotomayor are hacks - depending on your politics, they could be called nice hacks, but they are political appointees and act like it.

(Sandra Day O’Connor is the best living Justice.)

[Alben Barkley]

Still Clarence Thomas but Kavanaugh and Alito suck too.

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

Thomas and Kavanaugh at least have strange idiosyncracies. Alito is a Republcan hack disguised as a judge.

[Ancestral Republican]

Tied between Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh. Roberts and Gorsuch are pretty bad but do occasionally buck the party line. Also RBG is overrated

[Battista Minola 1616]

I am surprised no one (especially blue avatars) still has voted for John "whichever way the wind blows" Roberts.

[brucejoel99]

I am surprised no one (especially blue avatars) still has voted for John "whichever way the wind blows" Roberts.

Not at all surprising, because there's no credible claim to say he's the "worst justice:" he's very effective at running the Court, building coalitions, & maintaining the Court's legitimacy (which are the Chief's main jobs).

[MATTROSE94]

The serial rapist (Brett Kavanaugh)

[Mr. Smith]

Thomas.