3 female justices upend Supreme Court’s balance of power

[kenny]

It was great to read this.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/supreme_court_dispatches/2016/03/in_oral_arguments_for_the_texas_abortion_case_the_three_female_justices.html

 

[missy]

Thank you for sharing this Kenny.

 

[liaerfbv]

I read that article a few weeks ago and I'm very happy to see the ladies becoming more aggressive! I do wonder if there will be ramifications though to exceeding question time limits, particularly if it becomes commonplace. I don't think it is now? I'm sure Roberts didn't appreciate them completely ignoring his attempts to wrap up questioning.

 

[rainwood]

One thing that most people don't know is that when the justices are in conference to discuss the case (this is after oral argument and is done in private with only the justices present to see where people stand, and then have the chief justice assign who's going to write the majority opinion), there is a strict order to the discussion. The chief justice goes first, then in order of seniority so the most recent justices (Sotomayor and Kagan) speak at the end when most people have already decided their position. Because of that, both of these justices, but particularly Kagan (who always speaks last in conference) see oral argument as the best chance to make their points in the hope of persuading some of the other justices to their position.

I just found this out recently so thought I would share. And that may be part of what's going on as the four need to persuade someone (most likely Kennedy) to get a majority. A tie means the case stays as it was decided in the lower courts.

 

[iLander]

My favorite line

"There was something wonderful and symbolic about Roberts losing almost complete control over the court’s indignant women, who are just not inclined to play nice anymore."

I think we should start a saying; Real women don't necessarily play nice.