Cass Sunstein explains Antonin Scalia.

In this new op-ed.

He seeks to increase predictability and to reduce the risks associated with judicial discretion. He favors general rules, not case-by-case judgments. In his view, such rules simplify life for ordinary people and the legal system as a whole. They also reduce the danger that political preferences will end up dominating judicial decisions....

One of the most vivid writers in the court's history, he knows how to deliver a punch. Sometimes he seems to think that people who don't see things his way aren't merely in error but are also foolish, unacceptably political, even lawless.

Those who disagree with Scalia are entitled to object to his votes and his tone. At the same time, they should understand that his broadest commitment is to the rule of law. They should honor that commitment, and they should respect his efforts to develop an approach to interpretation that is compatible with it.

Sunstein absolves Scalia of partisanship: He's committed to the rule of law and not to "any political ideology."

I offer this proposition for debate: Sunstein himself is a political ideologue playing a partisan game, and this absolution for Scalia is a clever gambit.