'Consistent conservatives' likely to write most remaining SCOTUS decisions
So far this term, liberals on the Supreme Court have written 30 majority opinions, while the four most conservative justices have written only 20.
Those statistics suggest that the court’s “most consistent conservatives” will be writing many of the court’s remaining decisions, the Washington Post reports. The conclusion is part of a game of “Supreme Court bingo,” the Post says, in which pundits draw their authorship conclusions based on an analysis of the court’s seven sittings.
Generally, each justice writes at least one majority opinion per sitting. A look at the sitting statistics compiled by SCOTUSblog suggests:
• Swing Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is likely to write the opinion in Fisher v. University of Texas, which asks whether the university may consider race in university admissions.
• Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. or Justice Antonin Scalia is likely to write the opinion in Shelby Count v. Holder, which challenges preclearance requirements for voting practice changes affecting some jurisdictions under the Voting Rights Act.
• Liberals probably won’t be writing the opinion in the same-sex marriage cases (Hollingsworth v. Perry and U.S. v. Windsor) and in a challenge to an Arizona law requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration (Arizona vs. Inter-Tribal Council). Liberals have already written decisions from the relevant sitting.
