Fisher II and Scalia's passing

twoinanddone
Mon, 15 Feb 2016 18:49:01 +0000

Most cases decided are not 5 to 4, so they will go on as assigned with the same judge writing the majority opinion and others writing opinions as they desire.

There were be several cases that have to be reassigned for the final opinion. Of course all the cases Scalia was writing (and he wrote a lot, and often wrote concurring opinions just because he like to have his own say in everything). If the initial vote was 5-4 and the decision will now be 4-4, I’d imagine the ‘majority’ opinion may still be written by the same justice but the ‘minority’ opinion, which will now be a ‘tie’ decision, may be reassigned, or different justices will want to write something else.

Roberts will have a lot of work to do reassigning things.