3 ms·

People who regularly watch the court know that judges falling into "Left" and "Right" camps are the exception, not the rule. There are typically splits were so

People who regularly watch the court know that judges falling into "Left" and "Right" camps are the exception, not the rule. There are typically splits were some of the "Left" judges agree for reason X and some disagree for reason Y, and/or some "Right" judges agree for reason Z and disagree for reason W. And that's a good thing. This isn't a sports game where I should root for "my team." The judges shouldn't start from the end position they want and work towards that.

drzaiusapelord 12y ago
The endless 5-4 decisions of late tend to contradict that. Most judges are predictable. Roberts and Breyer being an exception, and slightly less predictable.
- wl 12y ago
  5-4 decisions tend to be the ones that make news. For the most part, the judges on the court agree with each other. In the the current term through June 18, 2014, only 14% of Supreme Court cases were settled in a 5-4 vote. http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SB_Stat_Pack_votesplit_06182014.pdf http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SB_...
  - danielweber 12y ago
    That's the perfect data, thank you. I went looking through those 5-4 cases to see if were along the left/right line. Only 4 of the 8 had Alito, Roberts, Scalia and Thomas on the same side. (The second had Thomas writing the opinion and Scalia writing the dissent. That's pretty rare.) EDIT duh, that's what the color-coding was for. Oh well.
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    > 5-4 decisions tend to be the ones that make news. Decisions on issues that have high political salience tend to be the ones that make news; there is currently something of a correlation with political salience and 5-4 split decisions on the courts, since Justices positions are most ideologically (rather than legally) consistent on points that were politically salient at the time of their appointment, and the issues with the strongest political salience also are often relatively consistently salient over an extended period of time, and since the court splits at or close to 5-4 on a lot of enduringly-salient issue areas. But plenty of 9-0 issues on issues that have current salience make news, and 5-4 decisions on which the justices are split but there isn't a great deal of political salience often aren't treated as any more newsworthy than any other decision.

drzaiusapelord 12y ago

The endless 5-4 decisions of late tend to contradict that. Most judges are predictable. Roberts and Breyer being an exception, and slightly less predictable.

wl 12y ago
5-4 decisions tend to be the ones that make news. For the most part, the judges on the court agree with each other. In the the current term through June 18, 2014, only 14% of Supreme Court cases were settled in a 5-4 vote. http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SB_Stat_Pack_votesplit_06182014.pdf http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SB_...
- danielweber 12y ago
  That's the perfect data, thank you. I went looking through those 5-4 cases to see if were along the left/right line. Only 4 of the 8 had Alito, Roberts, Scalia and Thomas on the same side. (The second had Thomas writing the opinion and Scalia writing the dissent. That's pretty rare.) EDIT duh, that's what the color-coding was for. Oh well.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > 5-4 decisions tend to be the ones that make news. Decisions on issues that have high political salience tend to be the ones that make news; there is currently something of a correlation with political salience and 5-4 split decisions on the courts, since Justices positions are most ideologically (rather than legally) consistent on points that were politically salient at the time of their appointment, and the issues with the strongest political salience also are often relatively consistently salient over an extended period of time, and since the court splits at or close to 5-4 on a lot of enduringly-salient issue areas. But plenty of 9-0 issues on issues that have current salience make news, and 5-4 decisions on which the justices are split but there isn't a great deal of political salience often aren't treated as any more newsworthy than any other decision.