In its 2017 session, the session presently under way, the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States have issued opinions on, by my count, 40 cases. Of these 20 have been unanimous, 1 case has had a single dissenting opinion (Alito), and three with two dissenters (Thomas and Alito). In other words although there is a kernel of truth in the view that there is a conservative Supreme Court (Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch) and a liberal Supreme Court (Ginsburg, Breyer, Kagan, Sotomayor) with Justice Kennedy providing a swing vote, it’s an exaggeration. Most decisions are not 5-4.
The notion of a bitterly divided Court serves the media and partisans but not the rest of us.
As I’ve said before here and elsewhere I would prefer a Court that decided all cases strictly on their legal merits. Turning the Supreme Court into a backdoor legislative body contributes to disunion. It is tyrannical. But the practical reality is that each of the justices is a human being complete with an agenda and closely held opinions and for each of the justices there are topics, frequently the “hot button” issues, on which they rather clearly become advocates. Those from member to member.
