eight-member court

Patterns of Eight Justices: Will They Persist with a New Court Member?

The Supreme Court has had eight members for over a year now. In that time the Justices authored seventy-seven majority opinions. Of those opinions sixty-eight were signed. Through this period there have been some interesting idiosyncrasies from the Justices that we haven’t seen in the past. We have seen new potential voting coalitions as well…

SCOTUS Preferences in Civil Rights Cases

Even with the Supreme Court in summer recess the Justices have ruled on a slew of challenges to states’ laws affecting voting rights (for example) and regulations (for example). These decisions often have ideological dimensions as is apparent from the alignment of dissenting coalitions. With eight rather than the typical nine Justices currently sitting on the…