(CNN) The late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia was known for dissenting opinions on social issues like abortion rights and gay marriage, remarking that he liked "to tell the majority to take a walk."

But a dispute argued last week at the Supreme Court involving a criminal case Scalia wrote in 2015 offers a reminder of a counterintuitive part of Scalia's legacy that favored defendants on trial.

It also points up the possibility that, depending on President-elect Donald Trump's choice, Scalia's successor could move the court further to the right on some criminal justice issues.

In a series of cases over his 30-year tenure, Scalia forged an unlikely coalition with liberal justices to demand more clarity in sentencing statutes and rein in the power of prosecutors and judges.

Such decisions arose from Scalia's brand of "originalism" that looked to what the Constitution's framers envisioned, for example, in the right to jury trial and a defendant's opportunity to confront witnesses against him.

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