Supreme Court update

Students of American Politics will no doubt be aware that it is often described as a political body, one of the reasons being that the Justices vote down ideological lines.

There has been a clear split between the conservative and liberal blocs in recent years and a snapshot of this year’s cases by Supreme Court watchers reveals that this process looks to have continued.

This is from this week’s Post and a reference to it in an essay would be well rewarded as evidence of a candidate keeping up-to-date:

‘Nothing has altered the Supreme Court’s pronounced split between its liberal and conservative justices, but more than the half the court’s opinions so far this term have been unanimous or with just one dissenting voice.

The statistical snapshot comes with about half the cases decided, another 29 in which opinions are being written and 10 more arguments to come this month.

Of the 37 decisions, 17 have been unanimous and two have brought together eight of the nine justices.

So far, the court has split 5-4 in eight cases. In those, the conservatives have prevailed four times and the liberals, twice. On each occasion, Justice Anthony Kennedy was in the majority.

The other two 5-4 decisions were not along ideological lines.

But a harmonious early spring can give way to a less pleasant June. Last year, the justices issued nine 5-4 rulings in the final weeks after having just two one-vote margins until then.

This year, the justices have yet to hand down rulings in three cases that were argued in October and November, sure signals of contention.

And this month, the court will hear arguments in several difficult cases that touch on minorities’ voting rights, reverse discrimination and the strip search of a student.’