Sure, but there's a case to be made that the reason we are where we are today is due to the dissents written by Thomas and, before him, Scalia. Justices have to strategize with the tools they have.
No, that's assuming that the rulings are based on law. They don't "have" to do anything. They decide what they want and then write a ruling provide retroactive justification.
I mean, they need cases and they need at least 5. The dissents set up the cases part. The entire conservative wing is sending signals to ADF to tee up the cases the wing wants.
