When the court was 4 - 4, Roberts made a difference by being a deep-state controlled swing vote.
Now that the court is 5 - 3, Roberts' vote no longer matters as outcomes of 6 - 3 or 5 - 4 are exactly the same. The deep-state control over Roberts is eliminated. I expect to see a lot more 6 - 3 decisions.
And now that it doesn't make any difference, I'd expect Breyer and Sotomayor to start looking at the exit door. Four more years is a long time to wait when you have so few left. Better to spend them at home with family.
That would just leave Kagen as the lone hard core liberal. It won't be a lot of fun to always be on the wrong side of 8 - 1 decisions and having to write all of the desenting opinions. I wouldn't want to work like that, and I'll bet she won't either.
Would Thomas step down? He might, just to make sure the constitutional court holds steady for a few more decades. But it won't change the balance anytime soon.
When the court was 4 - 4, Roberts made a difference by being a deep-state controlled swing vote.
Now that the court is 5 - 3, Roberts' vote no longer matters as outcomes of 6 - 3 or 5 - 4 are exactly the same. The deep-state control over Roberts is eliminated. I expect to see a lot more 6 - 3 decisions.
And now that it doesn't make any difference, I'd expect Breyer and Sotomayor to start looking at the exit door. Four more years is a long time to wait when you have so few left. Better to spend them at home with family.
That would just leave Kagen as the lone hard core liberal. It won't be a lot of fun to always be on the wrong side of 8 - 1 decisions and having to write all of the desenting opinions. I wouldn't want to work like that, and I'll bet she won't either.
Would Thomas step down? He might, just to make sure the constitutional court holds steady for a few more decades. But it won't change the balance anytime soon.
The next four years are going to be a lot of fun!