[Girlene]

I think Justice Scalia is referring to a personal price that he, Justice Scalia, would pay if he were ever the fifth vote on a decision so trite, maudlin and poorly reasoned.

I agree. Here's the full quote:

""The opinion is couched in a style that is as pretentious as its content is egotistic. If, even as the price to be paid for a fifth vote, I ever joined an opinion for the Court that began: 'The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity,' I would hide my head in a bag. The Supreme Court of the United States has descended from the disciplined legal reasoning of John Marshall and Joseph Story to the mystical aphorisms of the fortune cookie.""

[xzins]

First, the one is in the body, and the “paid” comment is a footnote, so there is no continuous flow of words. It is more as an aside.

The court is egoistic

(Now as an aside comment, let me say that: “If, even as the price to be paid for a fifth vote, I ever joined an opinion for the Court that began: ‘The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity,’ I would hide my head in a bag...”)

He’s clearly saying that something was GAINED by being the 5th vote....