Ramesh – I’m not sure I agree. When Thomas says he disagrees with the policy but considers it constitutional I think there’s some very useful didacticism at work. Too many Americans believe that if something is bad it must also be unconstitutional. With the occassional exception of free speech issues, the press and the public seem to believe the founders intended the Constitution to prevent all of our various governments from doing anything wrong. This belief is the primary reason the Supreme Court gets away with deciding decisions on grounds other than law. If we all decide cross burning is wrong or affirmative action is right, it must be somewhere in that magic hat of a Bill of Rights. So I like it when Thomas explains that he disagrees with a given policy but is willing to uphold its constitutionality. That’s what he did in Hudson v. McMillian when he held that the beating of a Louisiana prison inmate by some guards was probably criminal, but it wasn’t unconstitutional. That is great stuff.