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SCOTUS rulings are somewhat more complicated than yes-no votes. There can be any number of opinions written, and every Justice involved with the case will essen
by belovedeagle 9y ago
SCOTUS rulings are somewhat more complicated than yes-no votes. There can be any number of opinions written, and every Justice involved with the case will essentially sign on to one of these opinions (while possibly noting that they largely agree with another opinion and just have more to say).
- dragonwriter 9y agoMost significantly, the precedential value of rulings is in the reasoning rather than the result (now, this is still a clear majority without Alito, but there are cases where there is a majority for the result but no majority for a rationale, which then have little precedential effect, because there is no reasoning you can point to as the "rule" by which the case was decided.)