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Notes -
And sure they are right if the outcome is limited to the decisions at hand. But Scalia once talked about how he writes his dissents for law students since they are the ones who really have to grapple with trying to understand the law.
Regardless of how liberal or not liberal they are, Scalia heavily influenced numerous lawyers to move towards textualism.
My contention (maybe my cope) is that being honest jurists produces better thought out opinions. Better opinions have a real influence on the next generation. So you end up winning over time.
I think I share that hope/cope. IMO, partisan hacks just aren't going to leave a lasting impression on the judicial culture. Whereas Justices who focus on principled outcomes, like Scalia with his textualist approach, have an undeniable impact (Kagan famously said "We're all textualists now," which has not proved as true as I could wish, but the trend does seem to be in that direction--at least, very few opinions on either side of the Court in recent years have been as nakedly outcome-oriented and political as the decisions of e.g. the Warren court).
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