The Sumpreme Court And Justices Voting Together

It is quite amazing that the 9 members of the U.S. Supreme court typically fall into one of two camps. These two camps tend to decide cases with a 5 to 4 split.

Judged are suppose to review the facts before them before deciding every case. A casual observer of the Supreme Court may conclude that the members are making some judicial decisions based on political affiliation instead of the facts.

Supreme Court decisions are too often based on the same block of Justices voting together. Chief Justice John Roberts is typically joined by Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Kennedy, and Samuel Alito. Included in the other camp of Justices are Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer.

It does not help that many Americans see these 9 Justices as either being in the conservative camp or the liberal camp. Federal judges who are appointed for life are suppose to be apolitical.

There is nothing wrong with a 5 to 4 ruling; however, it is very interesting when the same groups of Justices vote together. The most famous 5 to 4 decision for many Americans today is Bush versus Gore.