Frankly, it is pointless to appeal to any side of his nature for anything honorable. He ENJOYS being the judicial equivalent of that so-called “Independent” or “moderate” voter.
IOW, he likes the attention, the wonder and bemusement surrounding on that one ego-question, “what on Earth will he do?”
The fact is that he, along with the others, have a LIFETIME’s worth of prestige, power and potential lasting effect on what becomes of our Constitution. In his case, that effect translates into outright pleading, pandering, and more importantly, self-serving ego-maintenance.
You can see the makeup of the court and know there are two vastly different sectors: one who endures constant berating and derision to ensure the adherence to our founding document, and the other self-serving, rabidly ideological or just self-serving. There’s a reason why older/sicker than dirt Ginsberg doesn’t retire. Same with some of the others except that they have important transformative work to do to devolve this country into a third world shithole.
The three (3) biggest SCOTUS disappointments in the last 30 years have been: Sandra Day O’Connor, David Souter and John Roberts. All three turned out to be Liberal wolves in Conservative sheep’s clothing, and ALL THREE WERE PLACED ON THE COURT BY REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS.