Does it really matter if Miers is not as "brilliant" as Scalia so long as she votes with him? And maybe Scalia would be better off if he used his brains to figure out ways to make conservative coalitions win, rather than be stuck writing "brilliant" dissents.
The reason Scalia does not figure out ways to win, is because of the choices of other GOP Presidents, including O.Connor, for Supreme Court. 5-4 wins every time.
The court doesn't work like that. It is not a committee in the sense that they all get together and hammer these things out.
The Justices hear a case. They go play golf. They tell their clerks what they think about the case and then let the clerks write it out.
They do not "campaign" amongst each other on cases.
I should have added though that I agree with you as far as her voting conservative. Once she is on the court does anything else really matter other than how she votes?