Does Justice Suffer When Supreme Court Rulings End in a Tie?

The Roberts Court, 2010 Back row (left to right): Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen G. Breyer, Samuel A. Alito, and Elena Kagan. Front row (left to right): Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Photo: StevePetteway/The Oyez Project | WikipediaCC. 

Following Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in late February, the United States Supreme Court has had only eight sitting justices.

Considering that Senate Republicans have refused to hold a confirmation hearing for any candidate that President Obama nominates, a clear violation of their constitutionally assigned duties, it could be a while until the Supreme Court has nine members again.

So what’s the big deal?

Well, in order for the Supreme Court to return a verdict there must be a majority, meaning that decisions had to be at least 5-4 when the Court was full, and that’s not always going to happen with an even number of justices.

The Supreme Court has a full docket this year, and will be hearing cases on abortion, contraception coverage, immigration, and other important issues. With a full court, a decision was always going to be reached, which would establish precedent for similar cases.

In the case of a tie though, which has already happened in a relatively minor case about banking debts, the vote was 4-4, and so the Court essentially left things to the lower court, which had previously ruled on the case. A tie in the Supreme Court of the United States basically means that nothing gets solved. The previous court’s ruling was in the case will stand, which is problematic.

It’s always possible for the Supreme Court to agree with the previous ruling, but when it votes that way with a full court, that case has gone through the entire judicial system and has been definitively settled.

The Justices may return to a tied case later, probably not until they have a full court again, but that’s not set in stone, which means until the Senate confirms a Justice nomination, the highest court in the land isn’t always going to be able to do it’s job.