No one said it was a good thing. In fact, even Stevens himself is quoted as saying he wished he could have voted the other way. Of course, that was pretty self-serving given that he could have, and did not, and only made the statement after he was pilloried by both the left and the right. It is his legacy though.
Re. Stevens' K v. NL vote. Why is there no mechanism to fix it? These people are not infallible and we all know it. K v. NL proves they can be outright stupid. Anyone but a Supreme Court Justice would have known how to vote. They should be able to call a special session and reverse their mistakes. Because they are not doing this, many cities around the country are still at it taking property from small owners and transferring to large interests. It is not just the transfer of stolen property that is at issue, the increased tax receips to the city governments are ill gotten gains. Cities have ceased all pretense at being public municipal entities created to serve the citizenry. They don't even pretend any more. They are open about being out to profit themselves and lord over the citizens.