This should come as a surprise to no one, but Justice Scalia doesn’t give a rat’s ass about criticism of the Court:

He declined to answer a question about President Barack Obama’s Monday remarks that it would be an “unprecedented, extraordinary step” for justices to overturn the challenged federal health care law.

“We don’t respond to criticism,” Scalia said. “Judges use what’s known as the rope-a-dope trick. It’s judicial tradition.” When the questioner pressed Scalia on who would provide checks and balances to the president, he said that, “We have three branches. They check and balance each other.”

And what’s the Rope-A-Dope you ask?

The rope-a-dope, duh, is a boxing strategy popularized by Muhammad Ali. You let your opponent hack away at you, with your back to the ropes. The elasticity of the ropes absorbs some of the shock of the punches; as long as you’re blocking well, you should be in good enough shape to pounce on your opponent once he’s tuckered out. The rope-a-dope.

So if the Court is the Rope, who is the Dope?