John sends this column on smarts. It says that public perception is the smartest Supreme Court judges are Scalia, Breyer and Souter, and the dumbest are Kennedy, O'Connor, and Thomas. The author's friends with inside knowledge say that Rehnquist and Thomas are the smartest.

This shows how public perception of intelligence can be wrong, and stay wrong for many years. Thomas has written many brilliant opinions with extremely compelling arguments. Hardly anyone attacks him on the substance of what he writes, because they cannot rebut it. People say he is stupid, and yet the people who say that show no sign of even having read any of his opinions. Meanwhile, Ginsburg and Souter have hardly written any noteworthy opinions. I say that Thomas is much smarter than Ginsburg or Souter.