Segal-Cover score
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Segal-Cover scores attempt to measure the relative liberalism or conservatism of United States Supreme Court justices. Their method of computing ideology scores was introduced by Jeffrey Segal and Albert Cover in their article "Ideological Values and the Votes of U.S. Supreme Court Justices," published in the American Political Science Review in 1989. The initial scores from the 1989 article were updated by Segal et al. in 1995.
The scores are based on analysis of pre-confirmation newspaper editorials regarding the nomination of each justice. Since the scores are not based on judicial rulings or opinions, they are relatively exogenous to judicial behavior, especially after confirmation of a justice. The scores range from 0 (most conservative), to 1 (most liberal). The Segal-Cover Scores for the members of the current Court are as follows:
| Ruth Bader Ginsburg | .680 |
| Stephen Breyer | .475 |
| Anthony Kennedy | .365 |
| David Souter | .325 |
| John Paul Stevens | .250 |
| Clarence Thomas | .160 |
| John Roberts | .120 |
| Samuel Alito | .100 |
| Antonin Scalia | .000 |
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Jeff Segal's list of justices and their scores dating back to Justice Black (pdf)
