In Unanimous Decisions, Supreme Court Justices Not Really In Accord

Though a majority of the Supreme Court’s recent decisions have been handed down as unanimous rulings, a closer look reveals that in some cases, like the striking down of President Obama’s “recess” appointees to the NLRB, there remain  huge gaps in reasoning and intent among the justices. In the NLRB case the justices were split 5-4 on the underlying legal issue of presidents making recess appointments. “The justices are not more in ideological agreement than in past years,” UC Irvine Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky told the Los Angeles Times. “Scalia has not moved to the left, nor Ginsburg to the right. But in a surprising number of cases, they have found a narrow resolution where they can be unanimous.” That often means Chief Justice Roberts playing the wild card role, at times concurring with the liberal contingent.