Slate: "Nutty for Nino - Antonin Scalia for chief justice. Seriously."

Or, as we used to joke back in AP Government, "Ave Scalia"...

The last reason Democrats should support Scalia is the most important and the most complicated: He's smart.

The high court has long been viewed by many as a bunch of political hacks who only got there because the president considered them pliant or sought to reward blind loyalty. That view coexists uneasily with the image of justices as the sage interpreters of our nation's laws—who got there because they're the wisest people in the land. Lately, the political-hack view has dominated, and that's a bad thing. Counterintuitive as it may seem, Democrats should work toward establishing a respected court, even if it's still dominated by GOP appointees.

If citizens believe that the grandest interpreters of our laws are merely black-robed political partisans, it's easier for the administration to treat them that way: The White House can choose candidates based on how loyal they are and how well they'd help the GOP in future elections. That's the way it is now, and that's why we've reached the peculiar situation in which Gonzales is a more likely nominee than, say, Richard Posner or Frank Easterbrook—conservatives who are also among the smartest appellate judges in the country.

Scalia's elevation would be a useful tonic. He thinks through issues logically and, unlike Thomas, he asks tough questions during hearings and writes terrific opinions.