Justices or Rubber Stamps?

Recent article on Law.com on preview of Historian David Garrow's work with Justice Blackmun's private papers. Looks like he ceded all functions to his law clerks, even on some of his "groundbreaking" opinions. Blackmuns clerks appeared to have been free to set their own agenda for the Court. Some comments on the detached relationship Blackmun had with his work and these maverick clerks: "“Will we find someday that Justice Scalia's file onBush v. Gore reflects the same partisanship among the clerks that we see in Blackmun's files in Planned Parenthood v. Casey?" Garrow asked. "I hope we don't." It was in the Casey file that some of the most stinging remarks are made by Blackmun's clerks. Clerk Stephanie Dangel, now a lawyer in Pennsylvania, referred to Justice Antonin Scalia as "evil Nino" and worried that even though Casey would preserve Blackmun's Roe v. Wade decision declaring a woman's right to an abortion, the ruling "may have the effect of removing abortion from the political agenda just long enough to ensure the re-election of President [George H.W.] Bush." Note the recent case where Dakota County Distric tCourt Judge Maurice Rdmond faced discipline because he allowed attorneys to write his rulings. Judge Redmond must have forgotten that he was NOT on the Supremes.