The Roberts/Alito Court

Alito is a down-the-line judicial conservative. It’s not for nothing that he’s acquired the sobriquet “Scalito.” Here, too, we’re already seeing some scrambling by conservatives to deny that Samuel Alito is an Antonin Scalia clone, mostly taking the form of disparaging the latter as acerbic and personally abrasive in contrast to the former’s smoothness -- overlooking the fact that, on a personal level, Scalia is entirely affable. (Indeed, although it’s been forgotten, when Scalia was nominated his supporters and opponents agreed that his ability to get along with everyone might make him a unifying force on a divided Court. Sound familiar?)

Mark Tushnet