Way back in 1997, before gay marriage was even an issue, the Weekly Standard reviewed Judge Reinhardt's career and called him "the liberal badboy of the federal judiciary," "one of the most overturned judges in history" as well as "The Judge the Supreme Court Loves to Overturn"

STEPHEN REINHARDT is the liberal badboy of the federal judiciary. He is ideological, outlandish, and never dull. The 66-year-old judge, appointed by Jimmy Carter in 1980 to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, is well known to the Supreme Court, which has a habit of overturning his opinions.

In fact, Reinhardt is one of the most overturned judges in history. In this term alone, the high court has reversed seven opinions that Reinhardt has either written or been party to. These haven't been narrow reversals, either--all seven of them have been unanimous."