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Viewing SCOTUS Through a Partisan Glass, Darkly

By Kent Scheidegger et al.

Linda Greenhouse has this article in Friday's New York Times, asking, "Where have all the 5-to-4 decisions gone?" Her approach is to look at the court entirely on a simple, one-dimensional liberal v. conservative scale, as if there is nothing else to consider. She looks at the lethal injection case, Baze v. Rees, the voter ID case, Crawford v. Marion Co. Elec. Bd., and United States v. Williams, the child pornography case, saying that it is not surprising that the government won all three but that it is surprising that none was 5-4. She also notes that Justice Kennedy is casting the deciding vote much less often than last term. And what is the reason for the dearth of 5-4 decisions this term? Ms. Greenhouse hypothesizes that the "liberals" on the court are gaining concessions from the "conservatives," getting narrower decisions in return for broader agreement...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime and Consequences on May 27, 2008 (boomark / email).