So Much for Unanimity

SCOTUSblog has an article on the The State of the Court -- May 2007 -- Part II (Unanimity and Justice Kennedy's Vote) "If anything, the ideological divisions on the Court have grown more stark."

"So far this Term, there have already been eleven five-to-four decisions – twenty-eight percent of the decisions for the Term. (At one point ending last week, six cases in a row were decided by a single vote.) At the same point last Term, the figure was three of fifty-two, or just six percent. As noted above, all last Term there were only eleven five-to-four rulings."

"So far, there have been eight unanimous decisions this Term – twenty-percent of the decisions to date. At the same point last Term, 57% of the decisions were decided unanimously"

"The most dramatic statistic relating to the five-to-four decisions is that Justice Kennedy has been in the majority in all of them. In five, he sided with the more liberal Justices. In three, he sided with the more conservative Justices. The remainder did not divide on ideological lines."

"Nonetheless, this is very likely to be a Term that labels Justice Kennedy as a conservative. By far, the cases that will define the Term are the pairs of cases involving race and abortion."

"Although the total output of decisions has slowed, it is notable how quickly the Justices have decided such highly contentious cases."