Former Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens died yesterday. He was a World War II veteran, a public servant, and by all accounts a gentleman. His jurisprudence had many admirers, increasingly liberal ones after his first years on the Court. But not all of his fans are content to leave it there. Slate’s obituary says he “fought tirelessly to build an America that lived up to his extraordinarily high standards.” If that’s really how he saw his job, it’s an indictment of him.

Ramesh Ponnuru is a senior editor for National Review , a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute. @rameshponnuru