RBG’s comments are a good sign. If Roberts was siding with the libs, I don’t think RBG would have described the ruling as sharply divided. She would have called it a “bipartisan consensus” or something.
Just before the Obamacare ruling, Ginsburg said something about “taxing”, hinting that the Obama care mandatory penalty would be ruled as a “tax.” I don’t remember her saying something about a lot of 5-4 decisions then. If she mentioned 5-4 decisions now, it means she is on the losing side of 5-4 decisions this summer. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions that it means she lost on the census question.
I got that impression too. It seemed odd for her to make those recent comments about split decisions. I too figured the liberals were on the losing side of some key cases.
Some may not know, but the opinions are already decided. But it takes time for the justices to write their opinions, so they don’t publicly disclose outcomes when they initially vote in private on the cases. So Ginsburg knows what’s coming down, but is not really at liberty to talk about it in detail.
I used to think he sided with the libs because of his adopted kids but they’re adults now so what gives?