Every lawyer I know concedes that Scalia was in fact brilliant

[bhikkhu]

34. Its an oversimplification, but demonstrated pretty well in his marriage equality position

Some quotes from his minority view on the gay marriage decision:

"Really? Who ever thought that intimacy and spirituality (whatever that means) were freedoms? And if intimacy is, one would think Freedom of Intimacy is abridged rather than expanded by marriage. Ask the nearest hippie. Expression, sure enough, is a freedom, but anyone in a long-lasting marriage will attest that that happy state constricts, rather than expands, what one can prudently say."

"If, even as the price to be paid for a fifth vote, I ever joined an opinion for the Court that began: ‘The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity,’ I would hide my head in a bag. The Supreme Court of the United States has descended from the disciplined legal reasoning of John Marshall and Joseph Story to the mystical aphorisms of the fortune cookie."

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/06/gay-marriage-supreme-court-scalia-dissent

...an opinion that was likely decided firmly in his head long before the case came before him, then a collection of creative mental gymnastics and brilliant rhetoric to justify it. I could be wrong about how other justices come to their decisions, but I like to think they come to the bench with careful and open minds.