"There is no doubt the man is strong defender and practitioner of judicial restraint."
See, to me that implies that he will not rule like Ginsburg, Souter, et al, because he knows his proper role. That's the core of the philosophy we hold dear.
"But not of the Scalia/Thomas mode."
There was no reason to know that Thomas would be of the Scalia/Thomas mode. But he turned out to be. I believe Roberts will as well.
"There was no reason to know that Thomas would be of the Scalia/Thomas mode."
You just have to wonder....I wonder if Thomas' philosophy sort of crystalized during his confirmation hearing? Wouldn't it be just all to awesome to figure out that he would have been a big time moderate, had they just let him sail through, but since they treated him like crap, he is still giving payback to the left? Ha.
This is not all that implausible. Remember he was a big Danforth staffer. I doubt if ultra RINO Danforth would have been quite as supportive of another Scalia.